STUDENT WHEELCHAIR TRANSPORTATION. LOADING AND SECUREMENT

California has no standard specifications or regulations which specifically address the construction and outfitting of special school buses required to transport wheelchair confined students. The standard requirements for regular school buses are not suited for buses carrying wheelchairs. Therefore, whenever a new wheelchair bus is proposed, an exemption from the regular school bus requirements is issued by the Department of Education (DOE) for its adaptation. This practice has led to inconsistency in approved systems. A state-of-the-art study was made to assist DOE in developing specifications for their 'wheelchair' school buses. Twenty-one entities, including school districts, transportation contractors and suppliers, were visited, and a documentation was made of the systems found. An engineering judgment type evaluation was made of the equipment. This report also discusses several questions raised during the study relative to the behavior of the student's wheelchair and its associated hardware during a vehicular accident.

• Corporate Authors:

  California Department of Transportation

  Division of Mass Transportation, 5900 Folsom Boulevard
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95807
• Authors:
  • STEWART, C F
  • Reinl, H G
• Publication Date: 1974-8

Media Info

• Pagination: 85 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Buses; Children; Loads; Performance based specifications; Persons with disabilities; Regulations; Safety; Safety engineering; School buses; School children; Specifications; Students; Transportation; Wheelchairs
• Uncontrolled Terms: Loading
• Geographic Terms: California
• Subject Areas: Education and Training; Law; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; Society; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00091650
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: DMT-001 Final Rpt.
• Files: NTIS, TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 13 1981 12:00AM