INJURY EVENTS AMONG BUS AND COACH OCCUPANTS

A ten year complete data set from the health sector, comprising 284 injured bus and coach occupants from a well defined area, was analyzed. The annual injury incidence was 2 per 10,000 inhabitants, 3/4 were women. In non-crash incidents, 54% were injured; 2/3 while alighting from a bus or coach. In...

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Main Author: Ulf BJÖRNSTIG
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2005-01-01
Series:IATSS Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0386111214601217
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author Ulf BJÖRNSTIG
author_facet Ulf BJÖRNSTIG
author_sort Ulf BJÖRNSTIG
collection DOAJ
description A ten year complete data set from the health sector, comprising 284 injured bus and coach occupants from a well defined area, was analyzed. The annual injury incidence was 2 per 10,000 inhabitants, 3/4 were women. In non-crash incidents, 54% were injured; 2/3 while alighting from a bus or coach. In crashes, 46% were injured; 2/3 in collisions with other vehicles and 1/3 in single vehicle crashes. During October-March, 3/4 were injured. In two single vehicle mass casualty crashes in slippery road conditions, high built coaches were hit by so high cross wind forces that they were blown off the road. This crash mechanism has received little attention earlier. Of those injured in collisions with other vehicles, 78% were injured in collisions with other heavy vehicles. Slippery conditions contributed to half of the alighting injuries. The proportion of moderate or more serious injuries (MAIS 2+) was highest in single vehicle crashes (48%) and in alighting and boarding (43%) incidents, and was lowest (5%) in collisions. Every seventh injured was treated as an in-patient on average in five days. Non-crash victims consumed 57% of all in-patient days. Conclusions: The aerodynamic cross-wind factor merits more studies. Injury reducing measures against alighting injuries, addressing especially step height and slippery conditions, may have a great potential to reduce these injuries. Rear-end collisions by other heavy vehicles in urban areas, causing a high number of “whip-lash” injuries, also need to be further addressed. The newly introduced law on compulsory seat belt use in long distance coaches may have a potential to reduce single vehicle crash and some collision injuries.
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spelling doaj.art-4d7e2456dfdb409cb2faeb2c10dde38a2022-12-22T02:09:46ZengElsevierIATSS Research0386-11122005-01-01291798710.1016/S0386-1112(14)60121-7INJURY EVENTS AMONG BUS AND COACH OCCUPANTSUlf BJÖRNSTIGA ten year complete data set from the health sector, comprising 284 injured bus and coach occupants from a well defined area, was analyzed. The annual injury incidence was 2 per 10,000 inhabitants, 3/4 were women. In non-crash incidents, 54% were injured; 2/3 while alighting from a bus or coach. In crashes, 46% were injured; 2/3 in collisions with other vehicles and 1/3 in single vehicle crashes. During October-March, 3/4 were injured. In two single vehicle mass casualty crashes in slippery road conditions, high built coaches were hit by so high cross wind forces that they were blown off the road. This crash mechanism has received little attention earlier. Of those injured in collisions with other vehicles, 78% were injured in collisions with other heavy vehicles. Slippery conditions contributed to half of the alighting injuries. The proportion of moderate or more serious injuries (MAIS 2+) was highest in single vehicle crashes (48%) and in alighting and boarding (43%) incidents, and was lowest (5%) in collisions. Every seventh injured was treated as an in-patient on average in five days. Non-crash victims consumed 57% of all in-patient days. Conclusions: The aerodynamic cross-wind factor merits more studies. Injury reducing measures against alighting injuries, addressing especially step height and slippery conditions, may have a great potential to reduce these injuries. Rear-end collisions by other heavy vehicles in urban areas, causing a high number of “whip-lash” injuries, also need to be further addressed. The newly introduced law on compulsory seat belt use in long distance coaches may have a potential to reduce single vehicle crash and some collision injuries.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0386111214601217AerodynamicsAlightingBus and coachInjury incidentsCross-wind
spellingShingle Ulf BJÖRNSTIG
INJURY EVENTS AMONG BUS AND COACH OCCUPANTS
IATSS Research
Aerodynamics
Alighting
Bus and coach
Injury incidents
Cross-wind
title INJURY EVENTS AMONG BUS AND COACH OCCUPANTS
title_full INJURY EVENTS AMONG BUS AND COACH OCCUPANTS
title_fullStr INJURY EVENTS AMONG BUS AND COACH OCCUPANTS
title_full_unstemmed INJURY EVENTS AMONG BUS AND COACH OCCUPANTS
title_short INJURY EVENTS AMONG BUS AND COACH OCCUPANTS
title_sort injury events among bus and coach occupants
topic Aerodynamics
Alighting
Bus and coach
Injury incidents
Cross-wind
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0386111214601217
work_keys_str_mv AT ulfbjornstig injuryeventsamongbusandcoachoccupants