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Kersey v. Ruch Trucking12/1/2003
s, inaccuracies and weaknesses" in Moore's opinion. In addition, defendants requested Cohn to "develop own analysis of the accident, including a computation of the speed of the truck." To this end, Cohn prepared a report and was deposed regarding his findings.
At his deposition, Cohn testified that he has a Ph. D. in nuclear physics. Although Cohn admitted that he was not trained in accident reconstruction, he stated that "the first accident reconstruction did as an expert witness" was in 1977. He also testified that he has been deposed as an accident-reconstruction expert between 10 and 20 times and that he has provided speed analysis testimony as it relates to accident reconstruction. Furthermore, Cohn testified that his business concentrates in two areas of practice: technical consulting and specialty education. Cohn testified that between 25% and 60% of his technical consulting business deals with accident reconstruction and between 10% and 25% of his specialty education business deals with accident reconstruction. Accordingly, Cohn held himself out as an expert in accident reconstruction.
Cohn opined that the value that Moore placed on the coefficient of friction was "unusually high and should be justified." Cohn explained that the typical coefficient of friction range for new pavement is 0.65 to 1.0 while the typical coefficient of friction range for well-traveled pavement is 0.55 to 0.70. Cohn characterized the intersection where the collision occurred as well traveled, and he opined that the 1.08 value that Moore placed on the coefficient of friction was not "characteristic of a well-traveled surface." At trial, Moore attributed the high value he obtained for the coefficient of friction to the fact that the truck was moving in a direction that simulated the effect of new pavement and that the truck was on an untraveled portion of the pavement. Thus, Moore provided a justification for the high value he calculated for the coefficient of friction. Consequently, had Cohn been retained by defendants solely to criticize Moore's opinions, we may have been inclined to accept their argument that Cohn's testimony was cumulative of facts already established. See Hollembaek, 137 Ill. App. 3d at 777.
However, Cohn was also retained to "develop own analysis of the accident, including a computation of the speed of the truck." At his deposition, Cohn testified regarding spreadsheets he prepared. Cohn explained that the spreadsheets contain his estimations of the initial speed of the truck for various coefficient-of-friction values. Among other things, the spreadsheets list Cohn's computations of the estimated speed of the truck at three different phases: (1) postimpact, i.e., the speed at which the truck exited the impact scene; (2) preimpact, i.e., the speed of the truck instantaneously prior to the impact with the passenger vehicle; and (3) preskid, i.e., the speed of the truck just before it started to skid. In calculating the preskid speed of the truck, Cohn used values for the coefficient of friction ranging from 0.5 to 1.2. For instance, Cohn testified that, using a value of 1.05 for the coefficient of friction, the truck would have been traveling 94.696 feet per second. Cohn converted feet-per-second to miles per hour by dividing the former by 88 and then multiplying the resulting quotient by 60. Thus, using 1.05 as the value for the coefficient of friction, Cohn calculated that the preskid speed of the truck would have been 64.6 miles per hour. Cohn also testified that the preskid speed of the truck would have been 64.8 miles per hour if the value used for the coefficient of friction was 1.08.
As noted previously, Cohn considered the intersection at which the collis
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