Passive Safety of Children Carriages on Busses

Abstract

The safe mobility of young children traveling with carriages in public transportation vehicles is a problem that has not yet been satisfactorily resolved. The lack of national and international standards in this area in the past led to the development of a research developed jointly by the Universitat Politécnica Valencia and the Universidad Politécnica Madrid (Spain). This book chapter shows the results of a research program developed to evaluate the dynamic behavior of occupied children carriages (ChC) during typical driving maneuvering—sudden braking, acceleration and cornering—and in case of low-g accidents reproducing frontal impacts resembling real traffic events (deceleration 2 g, ΔV 20 km/h). In the dynamic trials, three ChC-restraint prototypes and a typical wheelchair (WhCh) back-restraint system combined with two representatives of up-to-date ChC models in misuse and correct use configurations were tested. The results demonstrated the need for preventing children injuries as a consequence of low-g accidents.A Code of Good Practice was proposed jointly with the use of a new ChC-restraint system considering R 107–06 series of amendments. The new design improves the latest revision of regulation R107 regarding the use of back-restraint systems for the transport of WhCh and ChC passengers traveling on busses.