HELP PLEASE • I am writing as I feel your
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readers might be able to help me in some research that I am carrying out.
For some years I have been investigating the problem of wind induced accidents of road vehicles. A major difficulty in this work has always been the problem of obtaining full-scale accident data, which is very difficult to extract from overall accident figures.
The major storm of 25 January 1990, in which many vehicles were blown over or suffered other types of wind induced accidents, has, however, enabled me to collect a great deal of information from police authorities. This information is still somewhat lacking in detail and I would be very pleased to hear from any of your readers who are able to give eyewitness accounts of such accidents. In particular I would like to have: (a) The time and the location of the accident, as accurately as possible.
(b) The type of vehicle, and its weight at the time of the accident (this information is difficult to extract from police statistics). (c) A brief description of the accident.
If any of your readers would care to send this information to me at the address below I would be most grateful. Such information will enable me to calibrate the theoretical models of vehicle overturning that I have derived, and will, hopefully, in the future lead to the development of measures to increase vehicle safety.
Dr C J Baker, Nottingham University, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD.