Accident Terms and Definitions

Velocity
Speed and direction; used to describe a mode of functioning which is efficient and tightly aligned with conscious intention.

Advanced Frontal Airbags
Advanced frontal air bags are designed to meet the needs of the occupant in a variety of specific crash situations. Depending on design, advanced frontal air bag systems automatically determine if and with what level of power the driver frontal air bag and the passenger frontal air bag will inflate.

Brake failure
Brake failure can happen. Drum brakes are more commen to fail. Modern dual-circuit brake systems have made total brake failure an unlikely event. If one side of the circuit fails, the other side is usually sufficient to stop a vehicle.

Subpoena
Document issued by the authority of the court to compel a witness to appear and give testimony or produce documentary evidence in a proceeding. Failure to appear or produce is punishable by contempt of court.

Reference Point
In angular momentum, the point in space around which the motion of an object is described. The angular momentum of an object is defined in relation to some point, the reference point. The velocity and radius of an object are measured from the reference point.

Arbitration
the hearing and settlement of a dispute between opposing parties by a third party whose decision the parties have agreed to accept.

Using cell phone
Some state have banned types of cell phone use while driving. This can be very dangerous and my be a cause of an accident.

Raised Pavement Markers (R.P.M.)
Non-reflectorized ceramic pavement markers, also known as "Bott's Dotts", are most often used to delineate travel lane lines. Reflectorized RPM's come in many different colors and are used to delineate travel lane lines and outside boundaries.

Comparative negligence
Negligence of a plaintiff in a civil suit which decreases his recovery by his percentage of negligence compared to a defendant's negligence.

Collision
Pays for damage to your car caused by physical contact with another vehicle or with another object, such as a tree, boulder, guardrail, structure, or person.