German, 18 pages, 3 figures, 5 references
Keywords: tachograph

Tachograph recordings are an important tool for accident reconstruction. In contrast to eye witness accounts, they are objective evidence and cannot be replaced by theoretical hypotheses. The scientific service of the Zurich police service has been evaluating recordings of all sorts of tachographs for more than 30 years. This paper presents the insights gained in these years of experience, presenting the potential as well as the limitations of the evuluations. Despite these constraints, the evaluation of tachograph charts usually yields very precise results about the motion of the vehicle just before the accident.