DRAFT - 11 Mar 2003
VEHICLE-RELATED COUNTERMEASURES AND CHILD SAFETY

SOME ISSUES AND RECOMMENDED ACTIONS

CONTENTS

Background
REDUCING INJURY

Seat belt reminders
3 point seat belt for centre rear seat
Child restraint design
Car front design to minimise pedestrian injury
Bus Door Entrapment
School Bus Seat Belts

ACCIDENT AVOIDANCE

Flashing Warning Lights on School Buses
Reversing safety
Daytime running lights
Scooters
Devices to help drivers control their speed

 

Background

While road safety countermeasures to improve child safety understandably tend to focus on educational and behavioural issues, there are many vehicle-related countermeasures that can assist in this area. These notes briefly describe a range of countermeasures that I have been involved in over the past decade. There are other countermeasures which I have not covered that also deserve attention.

These notes do not represent the policy or views of any organisation. They are provided to simulate discussion on these important issues.

REDUCING INJURY

Seat belt reminders

Under its consumer crash test program, Euro NCAP is now encouraging the fitting of advanced seat belt reminders to vehicles. For driver and front passenger seating positions the system must give a visual and audible warning to the driver if a seat belt is not used, once the vehicle reaches a speed of 25km/h. For the rear seats the system need only indicate the status of seat belt use.

Since children generally travel in the rear seat of vehicles in Australia the rear seat system has obvious benefits. It enables the driver to easily confirm that each rear seat occupant is wearing their seat belt. The latest (2004) Subaru Liberty/Outback is fitted with rear seat belt status indicators.

http://www.euroncap.com/

http://www.atsb.gov.au/road/res-exec/cr211ex.cfm

Recommended action:

ANCAP to promote the availability of "bonus" points

Include seat belt reminders in (future) lists of vehicle safety features, for the information of consumers

3 point seat belt for centre rear seat

The proposed Euro NCAP scoring system for child restraint systems (CRS) will reward those vehicles with 3-point centre-rear seat belts.

In Australia it is becoming more important that the centre-rear seat has a 3-point seat belt. For example, over the next few years we will see the introduction of CRS that utilise ISOFIX lower anchorages. Since these new anchorages will generally only be available for rear outboard seating positions it possible that older children will end up in the centre rear seat. These children need the protection of a 3-point seat belt.

Recommended action:

ANCAP considers bonus point for centre-rear 3-point seat belt

• Include centre-rear 3-point seta belt in (future) lists of vehicle safety features, for the information of consumers

• Australia to quickly follow any European lead on mandating 3-point seat belts.


Child restraint design

When used correctly, Australian child restraints perform exceptionally well in most types of crashes. However, improvements could be made in side impact protection, reducing misuse rates and ensuring that appropriate restraints are used for each age group. Utilisation of the new ISOFIX lower anchorages also needs to be addressed.

http://www.aaa.asn.au/issinfo/CRS_effectiveness_Australia.pdf

Recommended action:

• Initiate or extend research projects (eg UNSW) looking at child restraint in-crash performance
• Review the Child Restraint Evaluation Program to incorporate improved rating of installation quality (see ANCAP report at AAA website)
• Develop CRS assessment system for use by ANCAP (in place of proposed EuroNCAP system that is not suitable for Australian CRS)
• Conduct CRS usage surveys - particularly looking at quality of installation and strapping child into restraint. Also look at booster seat usage.
• Review ISOFIX anchorage issues
• Look at improved technology for decreasing misuse rates.
• Consider whether headbands or helmets would provide additional protection, particularly in side impacts.


Car front design to minimise pedestrian injury

Australian NCAP now tests and rates the pedestrian protection of car fronts, using EuroNCAP protocols. One of the test simulates the potential injury when a child’s head strikes the bonnet. These tests are revealing a wide range in injury potential between similar looking vehicles. It is evident that some simple design changes can dramatically improve performance.

http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/mpaine/ped_veh.html

http://www.euroncap.com/tests.htm

Recommended action:

• Promote ANCAP pedestrian protection results - with emphasis on child headform results.
• Investigate progress with active injury prevention measures such as external airbags and pop-up bonnets.
• Investigate latest trends and injury risks with bullbars.


Bus Door Entrapment

In the early 1990s Dr Michael Henderson did consulting work for NSW DOT and Mr Paine did work for the RTA. This project arose from fatalities where school children were caught in bus doors. It involved a review of accident records and other sources to try and identify the scale of the problem and a review of technology to reduce the risk of entrapment. Key outcomes were:

• The problem was under-reported - particularly those involving near misses.
• Existing bus door sensors to detect whether doors were fully closed were not suitable for preventing entrapment.
• No complete bus door safety systems were available at the time of the study but all the necessary components were available.
• A two stage plan was implemented in NSW for all buses carrying school children (as a condition of the school transport subsidy scheme). Initially rear doors with flexible rubber edges were permitted to be used. Later only systems that would detect a trapped limb and open the door or prevent the bus from moving were permitted. Non-complying buses carrying school children could not use the rear door.
• It was found that entrapment was occurring with front doors as well as rear doors. Therefore safety systems were also needed on front doors.
• A Technical Specification was prepared for the RTA setting out the requirements of systems to reduce the risk of entrapment.
In 2000 we reviewed door safety for the ACTION bus fleet in the ACT based on our work in NSW.

In 2001 Mr Paine commenced a review of the NSW Specification for the RTA. That work is still in progress (draft project report with the RTA).

http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/mpaine/bus_acc.html

Recommended action:

• Review success, or otherwise, of the NSW policy and Technical Specification. Are operational problems associated with bus door safety systems causing additional hazards for travelling school children (eg stranded buses)?
• Review "solutions" implemented in other jurisdictions


School Bus Seat Belts

Conducted with Dr Michael Henderson in 1993. This project arose mainly from parent concerns about the safety of children travelling in buses. We reviewed Australian and overseas regulations, accident records and bus construction techniques. Key outcomes were:

• Most of the NSW bus fleet is used for the task of transporting school children - there are rarely buses devoted fully to transporting school children. This means that, unlike the USA, special regulations for dedicated school buses are not appropriate and that any measures need to take into consideration normal route service operation of the buses.
• School buses are an extremely safe method of transporting school children. Unfortunately, the rare accidents (which usually only involve minor injuries) come to the attention of the media and receive high publicity with consequent political attention.
• Children are much safer travelling on a bus than walking or riding to school. Any measures which reduce the number of children travelling by bus (such as abolishing the 3 for 2 rule) could be counter-productive
• Lap only seat belts are not suitable for use with conventional route service bus seats because the occupant is likely to swing forward and down onto the hard seat back in front. In any case, substantial upgrading of seat and seat anchorage strength would be needed.
• Existing route-service buses are not suitable for retro-fitting 3-point seat belts without considerable, and expensive, structural changes.
• The sequence of safety upgrades, in order of priority, should be: pad the seat tops, pad stanchions and strengthen seats and seat anchorages.
• Retro-fitting of seat belts should not be pursued as a mandatory safety measure for large buses but if they are fitted then they should be 3-point seat belts. Also operational issues such as the 3 for 2 rule would need to be addressed.
A copy of the Executive Summary is at: http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/mpaine/busbelts.html

Around 1996 the National Road Transport Commission issued "Guidelines for the Voluntary Modification of Existing Buses and Coaches to Improve Occupant Protection". In effect, this followed the sequence described above. It does not appear to have been widely adopted in the bus industry.

Irrespective of the issue with ordinary school buses, there is a clear need to encourage the use of coaches with 3-point seat belts for school excursions. It is also important that passengers in these coaches wear the seat belts. Michael Paine attended the scene of the Grafton Bus Crash in 1989, to assist with initial investigations and to advise ministers and executives at the scene. 19 bus occupants died in that crash and it was one of the triggers for the Australian innovation of 3-point seat belts in coaches (the other being the Kempsey crash between two coaches that occurred a few months later).

http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/mpaine/bus_acc.html

Recommended action:

• Review the findings of the earlier work - now that most design and operational issues with 3-point seat belts on coaches appear to have been resolved.
• Issue schools with guidelines for the hire buses/coaches for excursions (check Queensland Transport policy).
• Have the concerns about seat belts on small buses been resolved?


Accident avoidance
 

Flashing Warning Lights on School Buses

This project was carried out in 1995 for the Department of Transport NSW. It arose partly because the government had been approached by several inventors seeking to have a variety of warning systems fitted to school buses. Dr Alec Fisher, from UNSW, and Mr Paine looked at these systems and others, including bright halogen lights that were being trialled in Tasmania. Key outcomes were:

• A signal range of 250m was needed in order for motorists travelling at 100km/h to detect and react to the signal and slow down to 40km/h by the time they reach the bus.
• In bright daylight only the bright halogen lights had adequate signal range. Conventional lights based on turn signal lamps were totally inadequate in these circumstances.
• If the halogen lamps are high mounted and the beam is aimed horizontally then approaching motorists will see the lights from a long distance but gradually moved into a lower intensity portion of the beam as they get closer to the vehicle. This avoids the motorists being blinded by glare at dusk or at night.
A paper on this research was written for the 15th International Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV), held in Melbourne. See http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/mpaine/buslight.html

Recommended action:

• Have national proposals for brighter lights on new buses been implemented?
• Progressively retrofit buses operating in rural areas (eg 100km/h roads) with the brighter lights (on a sunny day most current lights cannot be readily seen at distances greater than 50m = about 2 seconds travel time).
• Take action to improve compliance with 40km/h speed limits around buses with flashing lights


Reversing safety

Recent work for the Motor Accidents Authority of NSW revealed the severely limited rearward view from most vehicles (a popular sedan is amongst the worst). Countermeasures evaluted included proximity sensors that warn the driver when an object is in the path of the vehicle and visual aids for the driver. Key findings were:

• Proximity sensors, by themselves, are inadequate for improving driveway safety. They cannot provide sufficient range to give a warning in time. If the range is extended then too many false alarms are given.
• Wide view lenses and similar devices do not provide an adequate view behind the vehicle
• Video camera systems have the potential to provide the driver with a view of critical areas but thought needs to be given to ergonomic issues, such as display screen location.
• A combination of video camera and proximity sensor offers the best vehicle-based solution but there is no substitute for proper adult supervision.
http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/mpaine/driveways.html

http://www.nrma.com.au/pub/nrma/car-research/reversing-visibility/index.shtml

Recommended action:

• Discourage consumers from buying inadequate devices (eg parking devices).
• Stress the danger to children from slow moving vehicles (ad showing child playing next to a steam roller?) and the need for adult supervision.


Daytime running lights

European studies show that vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists can benefit greatly from well-designed daytime running lights on vehicles that are approaching them. The benefits for children are unclear but there is likely to be an improvement in judgement of the speed and distance of approaching vehicles. Most effectiveness studies are based on low beam headlights, which are marginally useful as DRLs. Dedicated DRLs are likely to be much more effective than headlights and it is expected that the so-called latitude effect would disappear if dedicated DRLs are introduced.

http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/mpaine/drl.html

Recommended action:

• Review potential for DRLs in Australia. Encourage suitable systems

• Monitor possible changes to ECE regulations concerning DRLs and implement quickly in the corresponding ADRs


Scooters

In 2000/2001 I carried out research for Vicroads on the safety of recreational scooters. Using a series of performance tests and theoretical analysis, the safety of scooters was compared with that of conventional bicycles. This work confirmed the view that small-wheeled vehicles like scooters are much more susceptible to bumps and road surface irregularities and most scooters have poor braking and handling performance, compared with adult bicycles. It was also found that scooters are inherently unstable meaning that, in effect, the rider must concentrate on maintaining stability at all times. In contrast a bicycle is stable enough to allow the rider to turn their head to look at surrounding traffic, for a second or two, if necessary.

Motorised scooters compound the problem. Their noise masks the noise of traffic from the rider and it is generally difficult to maintain low speeds that are safe for mixing with pedestrians and bicycle riders (ie under 10km/h).

http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/mpaine/scooter.html

Recommended action:

• Inform parents about the dangers of scooters mixing with traffic
• Enforce bans on motorised (recreational) scooters
• Encourage helmet wearing for scooter riders.


Devices to help drivers control their speed

Several experiments with Intelligent Speed Adaption (ISA) are taking place around the world. In a research project undertaken for the RTA in 1996 I identified this field of ITS as having tremendous road safety potential (particularly for vulnerable road users). It was conjectured that many drivers are inadvertent or harassed speeders – they either didn’t know they were speeding or were bullied into travelling faster other drivers. ISA would help to overcome this because the system "knows" the speed limit and warns the driver (preferably in subtle ways like increasing resistance of the accelerator pedal).

These days in-car navigation systems and GPS make the concept viable. What is lacking is an electronic database of speed zones (perhaps an RTA responsibility) and an agreed data format. In particular, it is very important that the system has temporal and well as geographic information about speed zones so that 40km/h school speed zones (now throughout NSW) can be covered by the system.

Incidentally, my handheld Garmin GPS has a tracking function. Journey data can be downloaded to a PC and a speed profile for the journey can be analysed. This is a very simple form of in-car data recorder that could encourage drivers to stick to speed limits.

http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/mpaine/speed.html

Recommended action:

• Monitor ISA projects
• Promote development of optional ISA systems
• Ensure ITS standards include provision for speed zone information in digital maps for navigation systems. In particular, ensure that time of day information is included with geographical data.
• Look at potential for simple GPS receivers to be used to monitor travel speeds in fleets.
Prepared by Michael Paine

10 March 2003. Update 17 Jan 04.