Warsaw, May 17 – 18, 2022

In May this year, after a break due to the pandemic, a 3^rd conference “Safety of Vehicle – Safety of Passenger” with the motto “Zero Fatalities in EU Public Transport by 2030” was held in Warsaw.

Outstanding specialists from many countries, from Canada to China, from Sweden to Slovenia, gave their speeches. The presentations covered a range of issues related to the safety of passengers of buses, minibuses and trams, solving which could save many people from disability or even death.

The world of science and the latest researches

The safety of standing passengers, the possible hazards related to incorrectly positioned handrails and handholds as well as collisions caused by the human factor, mainly the driver’s work, were discussed extensively. Those issues were addressed by eminent experts such as Dr. Anna Anund, Ary Silvano and Jia-Cheng Xu from VTI – the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, Simon Krasna from the University of Slovenia and Prof. Robert Thomson from Chalmers University in Sweden who presented, in detail, how incorrect placement of handrails can cause head and chest injuries.

Dr. Mikołaj Tomczyk from the University of Poznan, Faculty of Political Science and Journalism, Department Study on Safety, Poland, discussed the issues of great importance to the organisers of metropolitan transport, namely, the safety of traffic and transport infrastructure.

In turn, the causes of the most tragic accidents, that is, incidents involving pedestrians as well as measures that can be implemented to improve safety in that area were presented by Prof. Janusz Kajzer from Kabimec Consulting, from Sweden. The second topic of his presentation was injuries of disabled persons and senior citizens that most often occur in non-collision situations, that is, while getting in and out of a vehicle or taking a seat.

Petr Pavlata from Vision Consulting Automotive, from the Czech Republic, presented how full-scale virtual testing and analysis of the strength and stiffness of a vehicle by VCA can increase safety, for example, in the event of a collision with another vehicle.

A prototype of an automatic bus docking system, which makes it easier for the driver to park the vehicle, enter or leave the bus stop was discussed by Dr. Anna Anund from VTI – the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute. During the testing stage, the drivers admitted that the system significantly improves the comfort of driving as well as passenger safety.

Fire hazards

The effectiveness of fire extinguishing systems installed in the engine compartments of buses was assessed by Piotr Lesiak from the Scientific and Research Centre for Fire Protection, Poland, who presented the effectiveness of the whole spectrum of fire extinguishing systems in several fire scenarios. In turn, Antoni Łuczyński from the Voith presented the latest Fogmaker system, which is installed in the engine compartments of buses and which, thanks to the implementation of the technology of pushing out air, can extinguish a fire immediately.

Safety and comfort

Ways to ensure both a high level of safety and comfort for travellers were presented, based on the results of their own research, by Dr. Eng. Adrian Mróz and Marcin Szuławy from the Ster. Particular attention was given to the wireless incident identification system, the necessity to ensure coordination of a rescue operation as well as the unique features of the 4th generation seats with an absorbing effect, adapted to transporting schoolchildren.

Safety in coach transport

That topic sparked a lively discussion among the participants of the conference. Krzysztof Nowak from the Inspectorate of Road Transport, Poland, discussed the results of inspections of the carriers responsible for passenger transport in Poland, including the transport of children. According to the Inspectorate, the situation in that area has been improving for several years. In turn, Agnieszka Pastuszak from the Polish Association of Coach Carriers presented a number of aspects concerning the transport of schoolchildren by coach, starting from the characteristics of such transport, through irregularities related to its organisation and the journey itself, to ideas that could increase the safety of transported kids.

What about the transport of children?

As was clear from the discussion, although the situation in coach transport in Poland keeps improving, there are a lot of irregularities related to the transport of schoolchildren, many of which may pose a direct threat to the life and health of the kids. To improve the safety and start eliminating unsafe practices, it was agreed that a team would be appointed, the task of which will be to develop a list of “good practices” that would be promoted as intensively as possible.

Fascinating presentations

The representatives of Dräger Poland presented their alcohol and drug testing equipment, which aroused great interest. Their introduction for use by the manufacturers and operators of vehicles could significantly reduce the number of accidents caused by drivers, and thus make a great contribution to the level of safety in public transport.

Conclusions

The participation of eminent experts from many countries, the results of the latest research and presentations of solutions in one place and at the same time can be a great support for the manufacturers of vehicles, carriers and organisers of public transport who attended the conference! It could be also a good start up for future conferences!

[Pokaz zdjęć]

2^nd Safety of Vehicle – Safety of Passenger conference continues to deliver the latest developments in public transport safety. A group of experts from carriers, manufacturers, nongovernment organizations and academic researchers provided the latest information and advances in vehicle, infrastructure, and passenger safety. Not only personal protection and vehicle automation overviews was provided also world premieres:

• on fire detection,
• fire suppression,
• 4^th generation seat systems,
• and vehicle monitoring

which were presented by manufacturers as Dafo, El-Cab, Ster.

As a summary of the Conference, the participants issued a joint appeal to national and international organizations, legislators, the media, public transport organizers and all those who have any impact on the safety of travelers to take joint action to improve our safety, our children, families, friends and acquaintances.

• Topics, Speakers, Examples of issues discussed