Perth Amboy (N.J.) Public Schools' transportation department conducts the full-scale drill in partnership with the city's police and fire departments, as well as EMS personnel and students, to better prepare all involved in the event of a real emergency. Here are shots from the event, which was nine months in the making.
PHOTOS: Boosting Training with Bus Crash Drill
During the drill held at an elementary school within Perth Amboy Public Schools, an accident was simulated in which a drunken driver struck a school bus full of students. All photos are courtesy of Edmund Treadaway Jr., son of Transportation Manager Edmund Treadaway.
With district transportation staff members, police, fire and EMS personnel as well as students, a camera crew and a security team, Treadaway said that about 100 people were involved in this drill.
The drill was filmed to help everyone involved learn what they did well and what they could do to improve. Treadaway said one area for improvement was communication among emergency responders, who initially miscounted the number of students on the bus. To read more about the drill, click here.
As part of the drill, fire department personnel cut open the bus to gain practice in working to evacuate students.
Eighteen students from a local performing arts school participated in the drill, pretending to sustain injuries ranging from broken arms to head wounds.
Some students were put on stretchers in preparation to be transported to a local medical center as part of the drill.
A county bus ambulance was used to transport students to Raritan Bay Medical Center to test the medical center staff's ability to handle such a large group of patients in an emergency.