No national data base is available which describes the sizes or journeys of wheelchairs in current use in the uk. Such information is a prerequisite for the design of transport facilities for disabled people, in particular small vehicles, such as taxis, intended for transporting people seated in their wheelchairs. As part of an evaluation of two prototype taxis a survey was carried out in north tyneside in 1983 to discover the sizes of wheelchairs in current use out-of-doors and the journeys that they undertake. The report compares the north tyneside sample with national data, where available, and concludes that the survey is reasonably representative. Data are presented which describe the characteristics of 325 wheelchair users, their 408 wheelchairs, and the 1130 journeys that they made in the week prior to the survey. (Author/publisher)
Abstract