Making a difference one investigation at a time

By Haleigh Pike
District 2 public information officer

Tucked away in an office at the California Highway Patrol’s Northern Division office sits Scott Gregory, a senior transportation engineer for Caltrans District 2. An odd place for a Caltrans employee to be, except Gregory is part of the Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) and uses his expertise as a transportation engineer to help investigate major injury or fatal traffic collisions when CHP management determines a more in-depth investigation with specialized training is required.

This can include collisions involved Caltrans or CHP personnel.

Inspired after a conversation with former District 2 MAIT engine Ken Reed, Gregory joined the MAIT program full-time in 2019 after going through months of training and courses.

“I had met Ken Reed and he started talking about the position and it just really interested me. Going out and investigating crashes, it was just something that I thought was interesting. So, from that point on, I always kind of thought that if that position came open, I was going to apply,” said Gregory.

A team consisting of one CHP sergeant, two or more CHP officers, one motor carrier specialist (MCS), and Gregory, the Northern Division MAIT Program covers 14 of California’s northern-most counties, including all of District 2. This program, established in 1978, was created to provide CHP with the means to conduct in-depth investigations and analyses of major traffic collisions throughout the state. Gregory’s education and technical knowledge allow him to assist in a way no one else on the team can.

In addition to investigating major injury or fatal traffic collisions where the CHP is the primary investigating agency, MAIT also assists with investigations by request from allied agencies. These are often referred to as supplemental investigations where the team will handle a specific aspect of the investigation and their report will be supplemental to an original report.

For primary investigations, MAIT is called, and they respond to the scene to conduct a full comprehensive investigation. The team uses a variety of tools and techniques to document the collision scene, including 3D laser scanning and aerial photography. They also measure physical evidence such as tire marks, vehicle debris and roadway damage.

The team then uses the information collected to reconstruct the collisions and determine the cause of the accident. The team utilizes multiple software programs to create a detailed reconstruction of the collision, which can be used to illustrate the sequence of events leading up to the collision.

On average, the Northern Division MAIT program gets 30 cases a year but that includes all investigations. Gregory says they will typically see an influx in cases during summer months when more people are traveling.

When asked what he enjoys most about the job, Gregory said the team environment and the challenge but also knowing that you’re making a difference.

“I feel like there’s more of an immediate benefit because you know that you’re helping someone. I actually just got done working a case where we were able to prove that the person that they thought was guilty of causing the death of another person was not actually at fault. So, in that regard, we changed that person’s life.”