There is a growing need to train effective collission investigators. This note gives some helpful background information bases on the UK practice.
Currently there is no specific framework relating purely to the ‘standard’ a Collision Investigator should attain before he or she can give evidence in a UK Court. That said, all expert witnesses are governed by the application of the recently revised Criminal and Civil Procedure Rules (whether Police or otherwise). To that end, a Judge will have the final say as to whether a witness, claiming to be an expert in a particular field, is competent enough to give evidence in the relevant Court.
The Police employed Collision Investigator will always remain ‘independent’ of the main investigation and should never be put under any pressure to arrive at conclusions that favour a prosecution and are not correct or independent.
2. Professional Training
In respect of the standard of competence of the Collision Investigator in the UK, the matter is somewhat clouded by the multiplicity of areas which are blanketed by the term Collision Investigator. One could be described as being a Collision Investigator where the main area of expertise is Human Factors or by the same token Bio mechanics of Injury.