NOVA 52x11 - Ultimate Crash Test: Impact

Surprisingly little is known about the behavior of cars anddrivers in uncontrolled, real-world accidents, despiterigorous testing in laboratory-controlled crashes. Now, afirst-of-its-kind experiment aims to discover what reallyhappens in a multi-vehicle pileup and how cars and drivingcould be made safer.In the second episode of this two-partspecial, forensic analysis is put to the test. Real-life crashscene investigations have very little data to work with, soare they accurate? And what can we learn about car safety whenthere is actual data to show exactly what happened? Followscientists, engineers, and accident investigators as theyanalyze a treasure trove of data – more than they've everbeen able to work with before. Interviews with drivers offervaluable clues into what they saw and how they reacted, and aLIDAR scan of the scene is stitched together into a digitalversion of the entire event that can be analyzed millisecond bymillisecond. In this unprecedented look at a majormulti-vehicle accident, discover insights about driverbehavior and vehicle design that could save lives.