SC law officers using dummy to learn about crashes

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Law enforcement officers from around the state are learning from a dummy.

Officers doing training at the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy on Thursday are using a 150-pound dummy to see what happens to the human body during a motorcycle crash.

Students in the course are learning how to calculate collision speeds and prepare for courtroom testimony. The academy says it’s the only training agency in South Carolina that uses live crash testing in collision reconstruction training.

The South Carolina Department of Public Safety says the state had more than 103,000 registered motorcycles in 2009, an 18 percent increase since 2005.

In 2008, there were more than 2,200 motorcycle collisions that resulted in 112 deaths and more than 2,000 injuries.