Abstract
This paper offers a detailed study of different safety issues related with the transport of handicapped people in different types of vehicles in Spain. A research program developed in the Automobile Laboratory of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain) shows that the main wheelchair and occupant restraint systems used in different means of transport in Spain cannot assure the safe behaviour of wheelchair travellers during an accident. The work shows the weakest points of the restraint designs, and reveals the nature of the problems involved in this kind of transport. Current wheelchair restraint systems used in Spain are mainly based on clamp-type or rigid bar typologies. To demonstrate that such systems are partially unsafe, the automobile laboratory has applied analytical and experimental procedures. The experimental research work was based on several field tests simulating critical transport manoeuvres in cities (braking, accelerating, sudden turning, and so on). This paper shows the results of a part of these theoretical and experimental tests. The results of the research will establish the base for a new Spanish standard for the use of wheelchair and occupant restraint devices in motor vehicles.