Expert Witness Journal Issue 67 June/July 2026 - Flipbook - Page 56
Pedal cycle investigation:
Using GPS and activity data to
reconstruct road collisions
by Siobhan O’Connell, Forensic Collision Investigator & Steven Mairs, Chartered Engineer
at Hawkins.
travelled along the same path or stretch of road, or
by evidencing changes in a person’s activity pro昀椀le
before and after a collision, including frequency,
duration, distance and speed. For a court, this kind
of insight can be highly valuable as it may assist in
assessing how an “ordinary” person behaves in a
similar environment.
Introduction
The increasing use of GPS-enabled devices,
particularly cycle computers and smartphone
applications, has created a valuable new source of
information for collision reconstruction. GPS data
can provide insights into rider behaviour in the lead
up to a collision. This type of data can provide speed
and positional information, whilst also illustrating
an individual’s typical activity patterns, such as
regular routes, usual times of day, and overall
duration or distance. When seeking to understand
liability and causation, this type of data can be
crucial.
In its simplest form, GPS data obtained from cycle
computers and wearables consists of a series of
location points, commonly recorded at one sample
per second (1 Hz) in sports activity applications.
Platforms such as Strava are extremely popular in
the health and 昀椀tness space. The availability of this
kind of data is therefore becoming more prevalent.
Wearable devices, such as smart watches and activity
Moreover, it can support comparative analysis,
for example by showing how other users have
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
54
JUNE 2026
