Alaska State Troopers are investigating their resources on-hand to reduce the amount of time roadways are closed during serious vehicle accidents.
AST Lieutenant Dane Gilmore says one technology they are investigating is the Faro Focus 3D scanner, which creates navigable images using lasers and mirrors to measure and map scenes.
Lt. Gilmore: “”It’s a technology that has been available to the Alaska Bureau of Investigation for crime scene investigation but it hasn’t been used for traffic crash investigation just because it’s a newer technology for us in terms of considering it as an alternative.”
Gilmore says in cases such as this summer’s fatal Portage accident, involving an SUV and tour bus where the Seward Highway was closed for ten hours, the 3D scanners may be able to decrease the time it takes officers to take measurements.
One problem is that currently Alaska only has two Faro scanners on hand, one in Fairbanks and one in Palmer.
Gilmore: “This technology is faster but if we don’t have it and we have to bring it, then where is your time in there. So if there’s travel involved in it then they are kind of about equal time period wise, you still have a better finished product but you don’t have as much of a time gain if you have to bring the equipment to the location from a long ways away.”
Another problem is the cost: the Faro tripod units along with necessary computer with software costs around $75,000 a piece.
Gilmore says with the Department of Public Safety already cutting positions, he doubts there will be room for more Faro purchases.
Troopers are continuing to investigate how to be fiscally responsible while using new technologies to cut down road closure times.