Collision education

Accident reconstruction

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In what could easily have been mistaken for the filming of an action flick, the North Las Vegas Police Department, along with the Collision Safety Institute and the Accident Reconstruction Network, recently held its fourth annual Crash Conference, kicking it off with a series of controlled collisions at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

During the 10 smash-ups, professional stunt driver Rusty Haight conducted crashes using a variety of vehicles, including a motor home, a compact car, a mid-sized sedan, a motorcycle and a North Las Vegas Fire Department fire engine.

The goal of the event, held June 5-8, was twofold -- to educate police officers and emergency personnel about the dynamics of a variety of collisions, and to educate the public about the importance of moving aside for emergency vehicles.

"The biggest thing is for the public to be aware of emergency vehicles when they are on an emergency call," said Cedric Williams, a public information officer for the North Las Vegas Fire Department. "We try to watch out for everyone, but the public can help us by moving to the right when they see an emergency vehicle, or if you're at an intersection, just stop -- don't try to pull out into traffic."

Williams said the North Las Vegas Fire Department was brought into the crash conference as a partner.

"We're using the fire engine to study the safety aspects of being hit by one," he said. "The fire engine was one of the North Las Vegas Fire Department's oldest vehicles, and was going to be put out to pasture. We decided this would be a better final use for it."

Jim Byrne, a North Las Vegas Police Department traffic officer, said he and Haight, who also is an accident reconstructionist, started the North Las Vegas crash conference four years ago because they felt more people, particularly accident reconstructionists and traffic officers, needed to be exposed to this variety of controlled crashes.

"(The conference is) good for investigations, and it's good for officers who testify in court regarding a crash," Byrne said. "They can say, 'I've been to a training course and seen these accidents in progress and studied what happens in each case.' "

David Dye, an accident reconstructionist with the New York State Police Department, agreed that attending the conference helps reconstruction officers during legal procedures.

"We end up investigating a lot of crashes to determine if someone caused the accident because of speeding or reckless driving, and that's the bottom line for police work -- making sure the right person is held responsible," Dye said.

Darren Foster, a traffic safety officer for the Maine State Police Department, said having the opportunity to study the dynamics of a crash, including "the rollover, the airborne time, what lands first -- the total movement of the crash," was one of the most important aspects of the conference.

Byrne said about 175 people from around the world attended the sold-out event, which is one of the largest of its kind.

"This is such a unique conference," he said. "Not many accident reconstruction officers get this kind of training. It gets bigger and better every year."

During the controlled collision crash tests, lifelike dummies weighing between 150 and 200 pounds were used, and data was collected, including film of each collision and acceleration and roll rates.

Because a stunt driver was used for the collisions, some factors did have to be adjusted.

"The fire engine was empty, so it only weighed about 23,000 pounds, but when an engine is fully loaded with water and equipment, it will usually weigh around 38,000 to 40,000 pounds," Williams said. "The engine was also travelling at about 30 mph during the controlled crashes. During a real call, it could have been travelling at twice that speed."

North Las Vegas Police Department public information officer Sean Walker said other cars used during the conference were provided by the fire and police departments, as well as Quality Towing.

Following the controlled collision portion of the conference, Byrne said participants would spend 3 1/2 days in a classroom setting. On the final day of the four-day conference, participants also received a complete compilation of the data collected from each controlled crash.

Ed Ridens and Jeff Lagreek, fatal accident reconstructionists from the Inglewood Police Department in California, said they attend many reconstruction classes and seminars each year, but they were particularly interested in the local event.

"I wanted to see the dynamics of the crashes," Ridens said. "We're used to seeing them after they're done, but it's helpful to actually see the whole crash in this environment."

Lagreek said "this strengthens our theories of how these things occur."

Derek Emmott said he and four other accident reconstruction officers from the Calgary Police Department were attending the crash conference for the second consecutive year.

He said watching the controlled crashes and then analyzing the results will help officers in their day-to-day work as they "try to put everything back together. Seeing this gives us a clear idea of what happened with the dynamics."

Emmott also said the compiled data each participant takes away from the crash conference allows reconstruction officers to share what they've learned with officers who didn't attend the conference.

Foster said the training participants received during the conference was unique.

"There is nowhere else in the country where you get to see live crashes to this scale," he said. "This is great experience, plus the guys doing this are the best in the country, so it's a great event for making contacts. In the future, we'll be able to use each other's resources and contact each other about investigations."