Traffic Collision Investigation

EVANSTON, ILL--Northwestern University Center for Public Safety's long awaited revised edition of its traffic accident investigation manual is now in print. "Traffic Collision Investigation" by Kenneth S. Baker represents the culmination of more than 70 years of research and instruction into the science of traffic accident investigation. Baker writes in the preface, "It is my hope that my efforts and the efforts of the many co-authors will make a significant contribution to the improvement of the investigation of motor vehicle collisions, the prosecution and defense of those related to such events, and the protection of the public welfare." Investigating traffic crashes began in 1929 when Franklin Freml, the founder of Evanston Police Department's Accident Prevention Bureau, would present conferences on police traffic services. University faculty and instructors who specialized in highway safety used their own lecture materials because there were no textbooks on the subject. Students paid only $2.00 to attend each one-day session. Because of the increasing number of motor vehicle crashes, one-day sessions on traffic safety were not enough to reduce the number of fatal and serious injuries on America's roads. It became necessary to expand the scope of university-level education in traffic safety. In an effort to provide that critical traffic safety training Kreml established Northwestern University's Traffic Institute (now known as the Center for Public Safety) in 1936. In 1940 he wrote the first version of the accident manual with four other authors. After World War II, the need became so great for accident investigation instruction that Northwestern University's Traffic Institute established a research and development division in study traffic crashes and to revise the textbook.Kenneth Baker is the author of 'Traffic Collision Investigation' with ISBN 9780912642093 and ISBN 0912642092.