Case Study: Tire Explosion Accident

During delivery of construction materials to a site, a driver noticed a flat tire on his semi-trailer. He, another worker, and a tire technician removed the tire to patch the hole. While the tire was being reinflated, a tear developed in the sidewall. The tear, coupled with the high air pressure inside the tire, caused a jet of air to escape which propelled the tire. The driver of the truck was subsequently struck by the tire and knocked backwards on to the ground, causing significant injuries. The client had already retained a forensic tire expert, and contacted ARCCA to make animations as a supplement to the expert’s report. A particular focus was the force and effect of the exploding tire.

Steps Taken:

ARCCA’s animators reviewed file material related to the case, including depositions, medical records, and police reports to depict the exploding tire failure.
The animators worked with the client’s expert to ensure the animations were accurate to their opinions.
An initial storyboard was sent to the client depicting the key parts of the animated exploding tires sequence.
The animators iterated on the animations in close communication with the client.
Animation clips were assembled into a video presentation for use in a legal case.
In order to increase the impact of the tire failure, audio was added to the video presentation.

Final Findings:

During production, it was decided to remove the segment depicting the plaintiff’s fall and injuries. This was done to ensure the entire video sequence was admissible as evidence, as the client’s expert was not capable of opining on the plaintiff’s biomechanics or injury causation.

The final animation focuses on guiding the audience through the incident, depicting the exploding tire failure and subsequent striking of the plaintiff. Due to the speed at which the event occurred, nearly a second, a slowed down depiction of the incident was included with the full speed animation.