Abstract
The future compulsory use of seat belts is currently the most important topic in the area of passive safety in buses and coaches. Accident reconstruction provides one of the best approaches to the problem and has been used since the origins of automotive passive safety for the definition of crash test procedures. Furthermore, the use of new computing tools for in-depth accident reconstruction has increased its accuracy and enabled it to be linked up with the simulation software used in vehicle crashworthiness engineering.
This paper presents a detailed analysis of a recent road traffic accident involving a coach. The first step was to reconstruct the accident. A full injury report including a description of the occupant's injuries and their causes provided the basis for the correlation of a computer simulation model. In the second step our experience in the development of coach seats equipped with seat belts enabled a comparative model to be constructed. Finally, the hypothesis that the consequences of the accident would have been less severe if the occupants of the bus had worn belts was evaluated. The conclusions drawn should help the legislators make the right decisions.