the-BA : Starting from scratch

Take one narrow car park space, someone in a hurry, and a momentary lapse of concentration. This is a recipe for accidental scratching of two cars. The offending vehicle drives off. You note its number, but to make a claim against the driver you need evidence. The evidence shows up as the scratches on both vehicles. All you have to do is prove that they match up. Matching scratches may also provide evidence in the case of a hit-and-run incident.

Have you ever wondered how to compare scratch marks to try to find a match?

You might like to …

• investigate what actually happens when two body panels or bumpers rub against each other (you should be able to obtain bits of panels from a garage or scrap yard)
• study the layers of paint and anti-corrosion treatment exposed by scratches; or left as extra layers on the surface, by rubbing off another vehicle; do the sequences of layers vary, or is it only the top coat that differs between differently coloured vehicles?
• devise, and try out, a method to determine whether or not two paint samples are the same paint; you’ll probably need a mixture of physical and chemical methods
• find out about the professional techniques used to study vehicle scratches, for example during the investigation of a hit-and-run incident.

Further links:
http://www.doj.state.wi.us/dles/crimelabs/trace.asp#Paint

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