It was an interesting sight at Tuma Soccer field in Marion in recent days as you might have seen cars and school buses deliberately crashing into each other.

It was all part of a series of safety tests into the city's school buses. The Midwest Association of Technical Investigators has been holding its 2019 conference this week, and on Tuesday, the group headed to Tuma to carry out the tests and collect data.

Tests were done using crash dummies and included sideswiping a manned pickup truck into a bus, and using an SUV to rear-end it, all in the name of seeing how these scenarios impact the safety of bus passengers.

It might help determine if seat belts should be mandated on buses.

When the crash tests were completed, the Marion Fire Department would use the cars to train its employees in how to safely extract passengers from badly mangled vehicles.

Data will be reviewed with an independent contractor Wednesday.

 

[Via Gazette]

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