Is there a pattern in European bus and coach incidents? A literature analysis with special focus on injury causation and injury mechanisms

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Abstract

In order to identify and describe a pattern in bus and coach incident related injuries and fatalities, and to suggest possible future measures for improvement of bus and coach safety, a literature analysis was performed. The results formed a multi-faceted pattern, which briefly can be described as follows; women travelled more frequently by bus as compared to men. Injuries sustained predominantly affected women 60 years of age and older. Of all traffic fatalities in Europe, bus and coach fatalities represented 0.3–0.5%. In the OECD countries, the risk of being killed or seriously injured was found to be seven to nine times lower for bus and coach occupants as compared to those of car occupants. Despite the fact that fatalities were more frequent on rural roads, a vast majority of all bus and coach casualties occurred on urban roads and in dry weather conditions. Boarding and alighting caused about one-third of all injury cases. Collisions were a major injury-contributing factor. Buses and coaches most frequently collided with cars, but unprotected road users were hit in about one-third of all cases of a collision, the point of impact on the bus or the coach being typically frontal or side. Rollovers occurred in almost all cases of severe coach crashes. In this type of crash projection, total ejection, partial ejection, intrusion and smoke inhalation were the main injury mechanisms and among those, ejection being the most dangerous. A 2-point belt may prevent passenger ejection, but in frontal crashes when the upper abdominal parts and the head hit the seatback in front, it could, however, contribute to head and thoracic injuries. Hence, a 3-point belt provides the best restraint in rollovers and frontal crashes.

Introduction

The traffic in general continues to increase in Europe (European Commission, 2001). Unlike the trend for cars, however, deaths and injuries involving buses and coaches have been stable over recent years in the European Union (EU) (European Commission, 2002). For example, in the eight countries1 covered by the Enhanced Coach and Bus Occupant Safety (ECBOS)—project approximately 20 000 buses and coaches with a kerb weight >5000 kg, were involved in crashes, the consequences being approximately 35 000 people injured and 150 killed, annually (ECBOS, 2001). In fact, in France, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden the casualties in buses and coaches have increased during the years 1994–1998 (ECBOS, 2001).

Based on a literature analysis of bus and coach transport, with respect to travel habits, crashes, injury data and restraint systems, possible future preventive measures could hopefully be suggested, in order to contribute to improved safety in buses and coaches. The measures to reduce harm can either be to decrease the probability of a crash (active safety) or minimize the consequences, (passive safety), and in case of an injury-related incident, enhancement of rescue and medical treatment (Evans, 2002).

In the EU, a new bus-directive Directive, 2001/85/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, (Directive, 2001/85/EC, 2002) has recently been implemented, which prescribes mandatory seatbelts2 in all new buses or coaches for seated passengers, exclusively. In the present literature analysis, special attention is thus paid to the seatbelt issue, i.e., the passive safety aspect.

The aim of the present literature analysis was to identify and describe a pattern in bus- and coach-related incidents leading to injuries and fatalities in Europe, with special attention to injury causation and injury mechanisms, and to suggest some possible future measures for the improvement of bus and coach safety, especially with respect to passive safety.

Section snippets

Categorization of the included references

Different types of buses and bus crashes are presented in international literature in virtually as many ways as there are articles on the topic. No standard procedure is to be found, which make the analysis complicated. This led the authors to conduct several steps in categorizing the information. One step was to use the term bus or coach “incident”, in order to cover all types of injury events related to bus and coach traffic. Other steps were to utilize bus classifications and injury severity

Bus and coach travels

In Sweden, despite the fact that buses and coaches constituted less than 1% of the vehicle fleet, a representative figure for EU countries (OECD, 1996), bus and coach passenger's average annual person kilometres represented 10% of the total road vehicle person kilometres (Nilsson, 1997). Women travel longer distances on local buses and also more frequently (Kirk et al., 2001), as shown in Fig. 2 (Reference original DETR, 2000, publication, commented upon by Kirk et al., 2001).

Local bus travel

Discussion

The aim of this analysis was to find a pattern among injuries in buses and coaches, but several problems were raised regarding bus types, injuries and possible injury patterns. One problem was the different data-sampling conditions that also Nilsson (1997) pointed out, namely that: “Comparison between countries should be avoided unless homogeneous conditions and samples can be made… which can explain the variation in fatality rates per million vehicle miles between different literature

Conclusions

The main conclusions of the present literature analysis were that:

  • 1.

    Women travelled more frequently by bus as compared to men, and injuries sustained predominantly affected women 60 years of age or older.

  • 2.

    Bus and coach fatalities represented only 0.3–0.5% of all traffic fatalities, it is in fact comparatively safe to go by bus.

  • 3.

    Fatalities were more frequent on rural roads, although a vast majority of all bus and coach casualties occurred on urban roads.

  • 4.

    Boarding and alighting caused about one-third

Acknowledgments

The Swedish National Road Administration, SNRA financed this study. The authors wish to thank Dr. Jan Petzäll, SNRA, Dr. Jan Törnros, VTI, and Professor Ulf Björnstig, Division of Surgery, Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden, for constructive contributions.

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