Planned vehicle crashes offer training for investigators

By Erin Dostal

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 | 1:50 a.m.

Nine vehicle crashes occurred in the same vicinity of North Las Vegas on Monday. Among them, two motorcycles crashed into the side of a car and another car crashed into a semi tractor-trailer.

But no one was hurt.

The North Las Vegas Police Department hosted its ninth annual ARC-CSI Crash Conference at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The police department, in conjunction with the Collision Safety Institute, performed the nine crashes.

About 300 people attended the event, each of them paying about $750, said North Las Vegas traffic officer and collision reconstructionist Jim Byrne.

Byrne said the goal was to recreate accidents to give attendees information about how to deal with a real crash.

Reconstructed accidents included cars crashing into a tractor-trailer, simulating a highway pileup.

“We’re going to do accidents that they’re not going to see on a daily basis,” Byrne said. “It’s a training conference. Another tool to put in their toolbox.”

Monday’s event is the only one of its kind in the area, Byrne said, adding that the day pays for itself in attendee fees.

Carol Velcio, a registered nurse from Ohio, said she attended the conference because it is the “Cadillac” of the industry.

Velcio works for Travelers Insurance, near Cleveland. She said she wanted to learn more about low-speed impact accidents because she often deals with medical fraud in her day-to-day work.

“I think it’s great that it’s so objective in the findings,” she said. “It’s some continuing education for myself.”

April Yergin, a crash reconstructionist who deals with heavy truck accidents in Houston, said she has attended the event on-and-off for six years. Although the event was scheduled to last from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., testers were still running crashes after 4 p.m.

“When you’re instrumenting vehicles, there’s always something that takes a little more time -- it’s understandable,” Yergin said. “That’s part of the science of what’s going on.”

Chenry Baughman, an accident reconstructionist from Palm Beach County, Fla., said he often works with police officers and homicide detectives. Specific measurements, and knowing how to find them, are vital to solving cases, he said.

Although it would be a long day, Baughman didn’t seem to mind waiting for the crashes to occur.

“We’ve had a couple of bloopers this morning, but that’s alright,” he said. “That’s what it’s like in the real world.”

Rusty Haight, a crash researcher and “human crash dummy,” drove during some of the day’s crashes.

Haight said the goal of the event was to “make a better investigator” for real-world crash situations.

“The folks that are here are able to look at the data we’re collecting,” he said. “They’ll be able to look at the info from the cars, and from that, do a better job investigating crashes.”

As a crash-test driver, Haight said he hopes for dramatic crashes, but has never been seriously injured during an event. Airbags and seatbelts keep him safe, he said.

“As I’m on the approach on the crash, I’m just hoping I planned it right,” he said. “I’ve got my alignment right … and that’s really the important part. There’s nothing else I need to worry about.”