The Latest: Expert: Seatbelts no guarantee of safety for old – WBNews

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas (AP) – The Latest on a deadly crash involving a church bus and a pickup truck in southwest Texas (all times local): 6:30 a.m. A traffic accident expert says the 13 senior adults killed this week in a minibus wreck in southwest Texas were more susceptible to internal injuries and damage to vulnerable organs because of their advanced ages. Kelley Adamson, president and owner of A&M; Forensics and Engineering, told the San Antonio Express-News (http://bit.ly/2oGnzPi ) that a head-on collision, such as the one Wednesday, is the equivalent of striking a brick wall. He adds that seatbelts aren’t necessarily effective at speeds in excess of 35 mph (56 kph). Authorities have not said whether the bus carrying the senior adults was equipped with restraints. Authorities also haven’t indicated how fast the bus was traveling when it collided with a pickup truck that drifted across the center line. But they say the speed limit along the stretch of road where the wreck occurred is 65 mph (104 kph). ___ 12:05 a.m. Authorities in two Texas counties say they received phone calls about a white pickup truck swerving along the roadway shortly before a head-on collision between a church bus and a pickup killed 13 people. Uvalde police Lt. Daniel Rodriguez says a man called around noon Wednesday to report the erratic truck heading north on U.S. 83. Deputies were dispatched, but Rodriguez says the same person called back less than 30 minutes later to say the truck crashed….more detail