Although seatbelts are now required in all minibuses and coaches as well as buses (except buses for urban use, i.e. standee buses) registered after 1st October 2001, legally only the passengers in the front seats of the buses are required to wear them. There have been discussions within the European Union about making the wearing of seatbelts, where provided, mandatory in these vehicles (i.e. vehicles of categories M2 and M3) and the EU has subsequently amended the seatbelt wearing Directive 91/671/EEC, extending its coverage to these vehicles. National governments are required to bring the amendment into force by 9th May 2006. This will have great benefit for adults as seatbelts are designed for adults. However, the benefits of adult seatbelts for children are less clear because they do not fit so well unless additional provisions are made for them. This study was conducted in two phases, with the first phase aiming to determine how often and in what circumstances child occupants travel in minibuses, buses and coaches and if, and to what extent, they are being injured. The second phase was to devise appropriate measures for restraining children in these vehicles that reduce the risk of them suffering the injuries identified in phase one and that suit the operational requirements of these large vehicles. One of the important conclusions from the phase one study was that an unsatisfactory seatbelt fit was observed for the majority of children when sitting in the seat with no aid (no booster cushion, etc.) and wearing the adult seatbelt. This report describes the work carried out for the phase two study and highlights the development of different solutions and the modelling and testing of the most practical solution. It was important when proposing solutions that they were based on the existing adult restraint system and the associated components and fixtures in order to minimise the cost of installing such systems. (A)
Samenvatting