Last fall, the RCMP teamed up with a Saskatoon, Sask., Ford dealership to demonstrate the effects of impaired driving.
As Cst. Les Brauner plowed into Skippy with the white pick-up truck, what surprised him the most was how loud the impact was.
"It was unmistakable," says Brauner, from the Saskatoon Police Service. "Now, if I was ever asked in a court about a hit-and-run investigation where the person said they didn't know they hit the person, I can say from experience, it's highly unlikely they wouldn't know."
Skippy — a dummy — was hit repeatedly by police during a pedestrian/bicycle investigation course hosted by the Saskatoon Police Service.
The Saskatoon Police Service recognized a need for collision analysts to have extra training in this area. Car-pedestrian and car-bicycle crashes are unique and require specialized training to help collision analysts investigate them.
Brauner put a call out to other police agencies in Saskatchewan to see if there was interest.
The RCMP and police from Moose Jaw, Regina and Prince Albert joined the Saskatoon police and trainers from the Institute of Police Technology and Management based in Florida, for a 40-hour course in Saskatoon.
It began in the classroom with practical testing where participants learned the formulas to prove Newton's three laws of motion. Then they headed out to the parking lot with a pick-up truck and Skippy to prove the formulas work.
"We struck Skippy several times and the speeds were coming in close to our actual radar speeds so that confirmed to every candidate that what was taught and applied was correct," says Cpl. Doug Green, a Forensic Collision Reconstructionist with RCMP Traffic Services in Saskatoon.
According to Saskatoon Police, last year alone, in Saskatoon, there were 53 serious or fatal crashes involving cyclists and 106 crashes involving pedestrians.
"One of the biggest reasons for what we do and why we do it is to provide answers to the family of those involved in the crash," says Brauner. "From this training, we're able to determine the speed of the vehicle at impact, the speed of the vehicle prior to the impact, how the body came into contact with the vehicle, all to be able to figure out what happened and provide that answer to the family."