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New safety standards for wheelchairs and tie-downs promise to improve transportation safety for people who must use their wheelchair as the passenger seat when riding in a car, van or bus. Here’s an overview of the WC18 and WC19 standards and the enhanced testing they require.
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The QRT-360 wheelchair retractor tie-down system meets the higher-strength requirements of WC18 that take effect in December 2015. At that time, compliance with WC18 will require frontal-impact sled testing of the wheelchair tie-down system with a crash-test dummy restrained by a three-point, lap-shoulder belt with a lap belt anchored to the 187-lb. surrogate wheelchair, such that a large percentage of the wheelchair-passenger restraint forces are transmitted to the rear tie-down straps.
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The floor features retractable straps for securing a wheelchair in a bus. The supervisor of transportation for Pennsylvania’s Upper Merion Area School District conceived the idea, and Director of Operations Frederick Remelius tells SBF that it has enabled bus drivers and aides to easily practice the procedure several times in the training area instead of having to do it inside a crowded bus.
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Victoria Arlen is a gold medal-winning para-athlete swimmer who participated in and received top honors at last summer’s Paralympic Games in London, and she was recently chosen to participate in the 2013 International Paralympic Committee Swimming World Championships in Montreal in August. Arlen, whose personal mobility vehicle is equipped with Q’Straint retractors, will appear in Q’Straint ads in national trade publications.
Read More →Myra Walstead and Jesse Hill from Academy School District 20 take first place in the annual National Special Needs Team Safety Roadeo. The runner-up teams hail from Georgia and California.
Read More →Paul Faucher brings more than 26 years of business experience to the wheelchair and occupant securement suppliers. He is also an accomplished athlete, having competed in short track speed skating in Canada and the U.S.
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Speakers during the NAPT Summit discuss such issues as bullying, wheelchair use, training and alternative fuels. Attendees also see several new school buses.
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Mary Ellen Buning of the University of Louisville in Kentucky spoke to attendees about the preliminary findings and data from a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center study on wheelchair use and safety in school transportation. Bus drivers and attendants were surveyed and asked questions related to training, wheelchair securement and lap-shoulder restraints, among other topics.
Read More →Jordan Avis receives the new wheelchair from a foundation that raises money to benefit special-needs students during an assembly at his high school. Avis' school bus driver alerted the foundation that Avis' regular wheelchair, which he was using while playing basketball, was falling apart.
Read More →School bus drivers and attendants are asked to share their experiences in a survey being conducted by university researchers. The outcome is expected to help bolster the safety of wheelchair-seated students by identifying needs for improved technologies, standards and training. The survey, which was announced in March, will close at the end of this month.
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