What Does an Accident Reconstructionist Do? | Lubbock, TX

How these crash experts work, who hires them, and why their findings can make or break an injury claim in Lubbock and the surrounding area

If you were in a serious Lubbock car accident, it’s likely that you (and your family, friends, and lawyers) will ask the natural question: “What happened?” 

Your perception of what happened might be different from the other driver’s perception of what happened—and both might be different from the police report’s analysis of what happened. An insurance company might not accept your explanation at face value, either. In a case where fault and liability is in dispute, the answer might have to come from an accident reconstructionist. 

Here’s what you need to know about what an accident reconstructionist does, and what’s unique about this process for Lubbock crashes. Below, hear a Lubbock-area accident reconstructionist tell you about his job, in his own words.

Background of an accident reconstructionist

Most accident reconstructionists landed in their career from either law enforcement or engineering. 

Many spent the first part of their career on highway patrol, or as part of a police major crash team, before they moved into private practice as a reconstructionist. For example, one profile is of a retired state trooper who was an officer for 27 years, then spent another 20 on a major crash investigation unit, and reconstructed more than 300 fatality and serious injury collisions. Others are licensed professional engineers who reconstruct accidents by applying physics and vehicle dynamics. 

The primary accreditation credential is from the Accreditation Commission for Traffic Accident Reconstruction (ACTAR). The organization arose from a coalition of eleven professional reconstruction associations in 1990 that sought an accreditation program that would be open to both public and private reconstructionists. 

A candidate must have 48 semester credit hours (or equivalent) of approved reconstruction coursework to be eligible to sit for the exam. An accredited professional must earn 80 continuing education units in each five-year period to maintain their status. Many also have certifications in downloading vehicle “black box” data and FAA drone pilot licenses.

Who hires a reconstruction expert?

A reconstructionist could be engaged to a crash by any party:

• Plaintiff’s attorney representing an injured victim or their family 
• Insurance company or defense lawyer contesting fault 
• Law enforcement agencies, many of which have their own crash reconstruction units 
• Prosecutors and public defenders in criminal cases such as intoxication manslaughter
• Product liability attorneys in vehicle defect cases

A personal injury lawyer will typically retain the services of a reconstructionist when liability is disputed, if a police report is incomplete or inaccurate, or when a commercial truck or catastrophic injury is involved.

Hear what Lubbock accident reconstruction professionals have to say

Enjuris spoke with West Texas accident reconstructionists Tyson Kropp and Abraham Chairez about their roles in accident reconstruction, what it’s like to testify as an expert witness, and how technology has changed the way they view evidence. Their stories aren’t exactly the same, and each is worth watching.

Process: From first call to final opinion

First call and preserving evidence

Time is critical. Unlike digital evidence, a physical crash scene is temporary. Skid marks fade, debris is swept away, and damaged vehicles are repaired or salvaged. Sometimes the weather makes this even faster. When a personal injury engages an expert, the first steps usually include sending a preservation letter to each involved party and securing vehicles before they’re demolished or modified.

Documenting the scene

The expert will visit the site to capture roadway geometry, sight lines, traffic controls, gouge marks, and final resting positions of the vehicles.

Inspecting the vehicles and data downloads

The reconstructionist inspects crush damage and retrieves electronic data. Most passenger vehicles have an event data recorder (EDR) that contains pre-crash data with several seconds of information from the time period leading up to the event. This can include vehicle speed, brake application, throttle application, and steering wheel angle.

Record-gathering

The reconstruction expert will gather the following:

Analysis

The reconstructionist will use principles such as conservation of momentum and energy to calculate speeds, timing, and driver perception-reaction windows. They will then test the competing versions of events against the physical evidence.

Report and visuals

The expert will issue a written opinion, often supported by diagrams, animations, or simulations a jury can understand.

Using technology for reconstructing accidents

Today’s accidents call for today’s technology—simply being good at your job as a reconstructionist is not enough. The expert must also be able to hold their own in court. Under Texas law, expert testimony is admissible if the expert is qualified, and if the testimony is relevant and based on a reliable foundation. 

Either party may file a Robinson challenge to try to exclude an expert’s testimony before trial; there have been cases in which the court has rejected an expert’s opinion because an impermissible analytical gap existed between the data and the conclusion. 

In practice, this means a reconstructionist will likely be deposed, potentially in a pretrial reliability hearing, and then direct- and cross-examined before a jury. The opposing counsel will probe their methods, assumptions, credentials, and prior testimony. 

A successful expert is methodical, transparent about their calculations, and able to explain physics to a Lubbock County jury in plain language. 

Importantly, expert witnesses do not advocate for either side the way attorneys do—their credibility depends on following the evidence.

Reconstruction and the South Plains

There are some accident-related challenges in the Lubbock area that you don’t find in other parts of the country.

Dust storms and chain-reaction pileups

West Texas wind events routinely cause multi-vehicle crashes. In one storm, wrecks that involved 23 vehicles occurred along a two-mile stretch of I-27 just north of New Deal, and another storm caused a multi-vehicle crash on U.S. 84 between Shallowater and Anton. Sorting out which drivers hit others, who was driving too fast for visibility, and other factors, is exactly the kind of puzzle a reconstructionist will solve.

Rural roads and farm equipment

Much of the region is served by farm-to-market roads and two-lane highways. Texas recorded 1,486 traffic fatalities on rural, non-interstate roads in 2022—the highest number of any state in the country. Crashes that involve slow-moving tractors, cotton modules, and oilfield trucks raise unique questions about speed differentials, lighting, and sight distance.

High crash volume

According to TxDOT, there were 9,305 crashes in 2023 in the 17-county district that includes Lubbock. Within Lubbock city limits, 14 people were killed and 15 were seriously injured in crashes involving occupants who were not wearing seatbelts. In addition, of the 292 work zone crashes in the Lubbock district, nearly 200 were in Lubbock. 

In essence, if there’s a dispute about who caused a crash, an accident reconstructionist can take scattered evidence and transform it into a clear, scientifically supported account of what happened. 

It’s crucial to act fast, though. The sooner an expert is involved, the more evidence can be preserved. If you or a loved one were injured in a Lubbock car accident, speak with an experienced personal injury attorney about whether your case would benefit from reconstruction.