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Traffic Crash Investigations Exam Questions
With Correct Answers.
Describe the role of Florida law for investigating a traffic crash - answer✔✔A traffic crash is a
collision involving one or more vehicles causing property damage, personal injury, serious
bodily injury, or death.
Understanding Florida traffic laws will help you make these determinations as well as manage a
crash scene within the law. You will also need to be able to defend these decisions in court by
associating the corresponding Florida law to the facts of the incident. Chapter 316, F.S., State
Uniform Traffic Control is the statutory chapter that governs traffic crash investigations in
Florida.
List the 10 steps for managing a crash investigation - answer✔✔Step 1: Approach the traffic
crash scene safely.
Step 2: Assess the scene of the crash.
Step 3: Secure a safe environment at the crash scene.
Step 4: Provide first aid to injured people, if necessary.
Step 5: Gather traffic crash information.
Step 6: Investigate to determine how and why the crash occurred.
Step 7: Complete driver exchange of information.
Step 8: Take enforcement action.
Step 9: Return the scene to normal as quickly as possible, if appropriate.
Step 10: Document the crash.
Describe how to approach a traffic crash scene - answer✔✔After getting a call from dispatch for
a traffic crash scene, drive immediately and safely to the scene.
Follow sound driving principles and use lights and sirens following your agency policies and
statutory requirements.
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Get as much information as possible from dispatch regarding the traffic crash location, such as
street names, addresses, or mile marker numbers, as well as vehicle descriptions, roadblocks and
other relevant information.
Describe how to locate all vehicles and people involved in a traffic crash - answer✔✔Determine
vehicle paths by examining evidence left on the road and surrounding property, such as skid
marks, and damaged road signs, landscaping, or buildings. Thoroughly, yet quickly, scan the
entire scene. Keep in mind that there may be vehicles or people involved in the traffic crash that
have left the scene or are not immediately visible during your initial assessment
Describe how to manage fire hazards at the scene - answer✔✔Look for dangers and hazards at
the crash scene such as the potential for fire, or downed power lines or wires.
In the event of a vehicle fire, decide how to evacuate everyone on the scene to a safe location.
When selecting a safe location, consider the amount of traffic, the weather and wind direction,
and the buildings in the area affected by the crash. Be aware of the location of crash debris, such
as small pieces of metal and glass, which can pose additional threats to both vehicles and
pedestrians.
Use verbal commands and gestures to direct everyone at the scene away from the fire and toward
the designated safe location.
Describe how to respond to a traffic crash scene involving hazardous materials - answer✔✔The
U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) defines a hazardous material
(hazmat) as any substance or material that, when released, may cause harm, serious injury, or
death to humans or animals, or harm the environment.
Before approaching the scene, look for hazardous conditions, such as fluids on the ground,
clouds of gas or smoke, or people lying injured on the road. Use binoculars to determine if the
vehicle's contents are hazardous by locating a placard on the back or side of the vehicle.
Refer to the ERG to verify the contents of the vehicle and the recommended minimum
evacuation distances in all directions. It is available in print, online, or as a mobile app.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has established the United Nations / North
American (UN / NA) four- digit
numbering system to identify hazardous materials. You may be able to identify a material using
the ERG by finding any
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one of the following:
• the four- digit number on the placard or orange panel on the container
• the name of the material on the shipping papers or packaging
• the number of the material on the shipping papers or packaging
Recognize the need for additional resources at a traffic crash - answer✔✔Traffic crash scenes
may require special arrangements for:
• directing traffic, establishing and maintaining roadblocks
• obtaining medical assistance
• completing searches
• taking photographs, measuring tire marks, processing evidence
• making an arrest
• towing oversized, hazardous, or commercial vehicle traffic
• completing paperwork
Additional resources may include:
• the traffic homicide investigative unit of your agency, the county sheriff's office, or the Florida
Highway
Patrol (FHP)
• the fire department or hazmat team
• DOT
• FHP Commercial Vehicle Enforcement
• local or state traffic engineering
• crime scene investigators
Contact dispatch to arrange for additional resources and relay any unusual details, hazards,
dangers, or medical issues
relevant to the scene.
Determine the jurisdiction of the traffic crash - answer✔✔The first harmful event, or the first
event during a traffic crash that caused injury or property damage, will determine the jurisdiction
of the scene. The first harmful event determines the time, place, and type of crash.
Should the first harmful event occur outside of your jurisdiction, stay at the crash scene to
protect the public and the scene until the proper agency arrives.
