Joe Atherton received his under-graduate degree from Towson State University in 1978. Afterwards, he moved to Virginia and was with the Chesterfield County Police Department until forming Accident Technology and Engineering. For the past 24 years he has pursued post graduate work in the field of accident causation and reconstruction. These studies have included, but are not limited to course pursuits at Virginia Commonwealth University, The University of North Florida, The University of Richmond, The Society of Engineering in Detroit, and Mack Boring's Engine City Tech Institute. Joe has held an international certification and accreditation for traffic accident reconstructionists since 1996.

He currently is the President of Accident Technology and Engineering. In this role, he is responsible for the forensic analysis of all types of crashes, ranging from low impact studies to multiple fatalities. He manages a staff responsible for determining the contributing factors in crashes. His work is primarily in the civil arena and he has testified as an expert in accident analysis in the courts of Virginia and numerous other states.

In addition to analyzing crashes, he has taught at his own Department of Criminal Justice Training Academy, and for many home office and regional office insurance training centers. He serves on the board of Directors For Drive Smart Virginia and has provided data for the General Assembly to consider when increased speed limits were proposed. Finally, he assisted the Virginia Transportation Research Council in drafting the new stopping distance chart used in Code section 46.2-880.