The safety of passengers in wheelchairs in vehicles

The safety of passengers in wheelchairs in vehicles is largely unregulated at this time. In Great Britain until very recently we have relied on a Code of Practice and Agreed Requirements with industry to set standards for the safety of wheelchair users in M2 and M3 vehicles (minibuses, buses and coaches). In the case of M1 category vehicles (cars including taxis), there are no standards in regulation. This paper reports on DTLR research by TRL using instrumented dummies to establish injury levels, and puts the findings in the context of national and international standards.