The bus driver is a key person in an accident, since he/she is skilled, he knows what to do, he can operate the systems in the bus, and he can help the passengers. However the fatality/injury risk of bus drivers is 10- to 100-fold higher than that of the passengers. Currently there is no international regulation providing any protection for the bus drivers in case of frontal collisions. Based on the technical analysis of real bus head on impacts this paper tries to collect the major issues which may help to develop international regulations in this subject. These are: the major accident types endangering the driver compartment (DC); the possible standard accidents which could be the basis of an approval test; the survival space for the driver and other requirements; the use of static or dynamic tests; impact loads (force, energy); and possible approval test methods. The paper refers to a practical solution, which can help to protect the driver using the principle of the safety platform. A rigid (in its plane) platform is used in the DC with a soft, deformable connection to the frame of the DC. The driver seat and the steering column are fixed to this platform. On the effect of the horizontal impact load the safety platform is pushed back in the DC together with the driver seat and steering column to provide the required survival space for the driver. For the covering abstract see ITRD E825082.
Samenvatting