When reconstructing a traffic accident the technical expert very often has to determine the relative velocity of the cars by judging the damage on the vehicles. The correct estimation of the deformation energy through EES values is of vital importance, when no investigation has been taken on the accident scene and therefore no further tracks or details have been found, which could be useful fort he reconstruction.
In Germany this is often the case, when no police was called to the accident scene, for instance because the question of guilt is without doubt, yet in the aftermath compensation for pain and suffering is claimed. In this case the strain on the passenger, which is a relevant factor for the assignment of compensation payments, immediately depends on the correct estimation of the vehicle damage. It is
necessary to verify the estimation through visual comparison with crash tests to prevent miscalculations. This was found by analyzing a survey on accuracy of EES estimations.