The Cranfield Impact Centre has become part of a European consortium set up to research and develop new legislation as part of a project to Enhance Coach and Bus Occupant Safety (ECBOS).
In the EC approximately 20,000 coaches above 5,000 kg are involved in accidents with personal injuries. Every year more than 35,000 people are hurt as a result of these accidents with over 250 receiving fatal injuries. As a result the EC has funded the ECBOS project to improve current regulations and investigate new safety methods.
The Cranfield Impact Centre has already been involved in a great deal of coach safety research, most recently with the development of new coach structures that greatly increase the chances of passenger survival during coach rollover accidents.
Jim Anderson, Senior Project Engineer from the Impact Centre said "This is an extremely worthwhile project which will hopefully bring about great advances in the safety of passengers travelling on coaches, city buses and minibuses."
The technical objectives of the project are to develop cost effective test and evaluation methods to assess the protection for bus passengers and drivers in the event of frontal and rollover accidents.
*Other members of the consortium are Technical University of Graz (AT), Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft (DE), INSIA Universidad de Madrid (ES), Loughborough University (UK), Politecnico di Torino (IT), and TNO Automotive (NL).