In the present study three-point-bend impact experiments were conducted using an instrumented Charpy pendulum with a laser displacement measurement to better understand the correlation between impact velocity and the dynamic effects observed on the load-time curves. The experiments were performed at impact velocities ranging from 1 to 4 m/s. The aim of this work is to measure the dynamic fracture toughness at high impact velocities where the classical method is limited by the inertial effects. The direct measurements of the specimen deflection are successfully used for the toughness evaluation. The results obtained with this method, which are compared to other studies, indicate that this approach seems promising for brittle materials such as PMMA. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.