To illustrate the application of these techniques, consider an accident in which an automobile driver rounds a curve and observes a pickup backed across the roadway. However, if the automobile had antilock brakes there would be little or no skids to measure. You may note that it is unlikely that the result will be as accurate as the analysis with the measured skidmark. However, it is possible that it will be more accurate. One of the principal problems with the skidmark is that, when it is present, it tends to become the controlling factor in the analysis.
Many accidents involve significant braking before any skidding occurs.
This results in a general trend toward the conservative evaluation of a vehicle's speed. If we reconsider the speed analysis with the skidmark and also perform a visibility and timing analysis, it may indicate that the driver of the automobile could have begun braking 125 feet prior to impact. Therefore, it could be concluded that the automobile was either traveling faster than the damage and 50 feet of skidmarks would suggest, or the driver was not paying attention as he rounded the curve. Visibility and timing considerations may therefore be important even in situations where there is sufficient information to evaluate speed by other methods. It is relatively easy to identify areas in any analysis where the accident reconstructionist's data was not complete or where a slightly different value could have been chosen.