Seatbelts: requirements for minibuses and coaches. Module 1, Phase 1: final report

Grant, Rachel; Welsh, Ruth; Lawton, Clare; Cook, Sharon

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Seatbelts: requirements for minibuses and coaches. Module 1, Phase 1: final report

report

posted on 2016-11-24, 11:53 authored by Rachel Grant, Ruth WelshRuth Welsh, Clare Lawton, Sharon CookSharon Cook

Seatbelts: requirements for minibuses and coaches. Module 1, Phase 1: final report

Funding

TRL Limited

History

School

Design

Citation

GRANT, R. ... et al., 2005. Seatbelts: requirements for minibuses and coaches. Module 1, Phase 1: final report. Unpublished.

Version

NA (Not Applicable or Unknown)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2005

Notes

Closed access. This report documented the methodologies and results of a research programme which investigated the injury circumstances and causation data and issues of seat belt fit for children on minibuses and coaches. This research was part of a larger study conducted by TRL Limited to devise appropriate measures for restraining children in these vehicles that would reduce the risk of them suffering injuries and which would suit the operational requirements of these large vehicles. The research was commissioned by the DfT in order to investigate the issues and propose design solutions and testing and regulation requirements in order to help determine the Government's interpretation of the EU Seatbelt Wearing Directive 91/671/EEC into the national legislation. The introduction of this legislation requires the Government to consider the balance between the injury reduction potential of the compulsory use of seatbelts with the possible injury causation resulting from children using the adult seatbelt and the possible need for, and design and specification of, additional protection for children. The author's previous research into the bus and coach occupant safety and child safety in cars had highlighted the lack of research and impirical data in this area. Thus in order to understand and quantify the problem, the study collected previously unrecorded exposure data, together with analysis of the accident data. In addition, a study of seatbelt fit for children in these vehicles was performed as no such information was available worldwide. The findings from this research confirmed that child injury protection on coaches and minibuses is a much more complex issue than in cars. The research results were used in the subsequent work by TRL to determine and evaluate design solutions. This work is being considered by the DfT as the Government endeavours to determine the requirements of the seatbelt law in the context of coaches.