Search Results

The ability to accurately calculate a snowmobile’s speed based on measured track marks in the snow is important when assessing a snowmobile accident. The characteristics and length of visible snowmobile track marks were documented for 41 locked-track braking tests and 38 rolldown tests using four modern snowmobiles on a groomed/packed snow surface. The documented track mark lengths were used to quantify the uncertainty associated with using track mark length to estimate initial speed. Regression models were developed for both data sets. The regression model of the locked-track tests revealed that using an average deceleration of 0.36g over the length of the locked track mark provides a good estimate of the best-fit line through the data, with the upper and lower 95th percentile prediction interval bounds best represented by using deceleration rates of 0.23g and 0.52g respectively.