ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Page Count: 9

Examination of Lightbulb Filaments After a Car Crash: Difficulties in Interpreting the Results
Baudoin, P
Forensic scientist, Microanalysis Department, and engineer, assistant director, Institut de Recherche Criminelle de la Gendarmerie Nationale,

Lavabre, R
Forensic scientist, Microanalysis Department, and engineer, assistant director, Institut de Recherche Criminelle de la Gendarmerie Nationale,

(Received 30 November 1999; accepted 13 March 2000)

Abstract

A drunk car driver was involved in a fatal crash with a scooter at night. Examination of the lightbulbs from the vehicles revealed some mechanical and analytical incompatibilities. The laboratory's initial observations led to complementary police investigations which finally solved the first incompatibility. The different precautions taken by the technical police investigators on the crime scene finally allowed the forensic scientists to establish the functional state of the lightbulbs during the crash.

Keywords:
forensic science, criminalistics, automobile accident investigation, bulb filaments, scanning electron microscopy, interpretation

Paper ID: JFS14927J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS14927J
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