The forensic pathologist and the determination of driver versus passenger in motor vehicle collisions. The need to examine injury mechanisms, occupant kinematics, vehicle dynamics, and trace evidence

Five cases of vehicular homicide are presented in which the determination of an occupant's role in a motor vehicle collision was an important medicolegal question. The identification of the occupant's role in a motor vehicle collision can be determined by the forensic pathologist. The investigation that coordinates an examination of injury mechanisms, occupant kinematics, vehicle dynamics, and trace evidence will facilitate such a determination. This determination protects the innocent passenger, when faced with criminal or civil charges, from being falsely prosecuted as the driver. The examination of the above-mentioned components in a multi-occupant collision takes on particular forensic importance when a surviving driver claims to be a passenger: the victim rather than the assailant.