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Sintra Engineering was a part of the recent Engineering & Geoscience feature section of The Edmonton Journal (23.02.06)

How fast is too fast?

How long could whiplash and related symptoms last? Andrew Happer, professional forensic engineer and co-owner of Sintra Engineering Inc., is working hard to find the answers.

In 2002, Sintra Engineering started researching low speed collisions and developed methods of analysis. Consequently, they published studies in 2003 and 2005, with the more recent publication indicating that, with 95 per cent confidence, whiplash likely occurred when a vehicle with a 7.8 km per hour to 11 km per hour speed differential was struck from behind.

"It was a big project. We pushed the envelope in the field we practice in. We reconstructed car accidents that had been around for 30 years," explains Happer, also noting that there wasn't much data available for new models of vehicles.

Using statistics from those accidents, Happer's company was able to reach the conclusion that provided a range of speed. Until that point, he noted, a figure developed 10 years ago, based on a small number of rear-end impacts, indicated that whiplash occurred at an 8 km-h speed differential.

Now it's Sintra Engineering's figures, as these figures were published with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), that will be used by insurance companies that are fighting court cases.

Getting the study and the figures published and accepted by the SAE is a big accomplishment, as other professional engineers have to review and sign off on the information presented.

Every year since then, Sintra Engineering has had research published by SAE.

Happer explains that Sintra Engineering is an innovative company. It is a consulting company hired by insurance companies and lawyers to reconstruct motor vehicle accidents, fires and mechanical failures to determine what has happened.

"We use engineering principles to try and reconstruct what's happened," says Happer.

Now, the work of a biomechanical engineer is coming into play as Sintra Engineering moves into the field of determining how long a whiplash injury could last.

"We're moving into the next phase of our research," says Happer. Determining "the likely duration" of a whiplash-related injury if someone involved has been hit from behind will be "helpful for our clients in the court system."

Whiplash claims are large and the newest research undertaken by Sintra Engineering will act as a means to determine how accurate these claims are.

Determining the severity of whiplash and its endurance will be based on statistical analysis, which is an "innovative way of looking at it," says Happer.

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