Safety has to be the watchword for all bus and coach operators says John Lewis
Travelling by coach or bus is one of the safest ways of getting from A to B. Thousands and thousands of passengers do so every day without coming to grief. Yet although it is safe, incidents leading to death or injury are not unknown, and every such incident is an incident too many. A total of 25 people were killed by buses in London during 2015 and 2016 and a further 12,000 injured, mostly by slips, trips or falls, according to the London Assembly’s Driven to Distraction report published in 2017. [wlm_nonmember][…]
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Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is determined to do something about it. Early last year he set out his Vision Zero approach to highway hazards. The aim is for no-one to be killed in or by a London bus by 2030, and for deaths and serious injuries caused by all road collisions to be eliminated from the capital’s streets come 2041. In addition, there is an interim target of a 70% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured in or by a bus by 2021/22.
A key weapon in the fight to achieve Vision Zero is the comprehensive new Safety Standard recently unveiled by Transport for London (TfL). It will result in major – and compulsory – changes to the capital’s buses. Including everything from improvements to frontal crashworthiness to Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), the standard will undergo a staged introduction from 2019 to 2024.
“Not all the technologies are available immediately and some will require development, so our bus safety roadmap gives manufacturers the time they will need to invest in these new features,” said TfL Director of Bus Operations, Claire Mann. “This has been an evidence-based and collaborative project which has involved consulting with manufacturers and operators on technical feasibility, timelines and implementation.
“It is crucial that we all continue to work together to ensure we reduce to zero the number of people killed or seriously injured on our bus network,” she added. “While we are launching the Bus Safety Standard in London, the benefits are potentially global, and we encourage everyone to join the call for raising the safety standard of buses.”
The independent Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) has trialled many of the planned measures at TfL’s request.
Stick to the limit
One safety measure is already in force. ISA – Intelligent Speed Adaption – is now obligatory to ensure buses adhere to the prevailing speed limit. It follows a trial commissioned by TfL some two years ago involving 48 buses on two routes. Vehicles equipped with ISA remained within the limit over 97% of the time, with only occasional breaches taking place on downhill sections of road. How does the bus know what the limit is? Because its location is pinpointed by GPS and it is automatically restricted to the speed limit in force on the section of highway concerned, says Arriva-owned Zeta Automotive.
It has played a key role in developing ISA for TfL using technology developed at its site in Bicester, Oxfordshire. Zeta Automotive has also come up with EconoSpeed Connect, which limits the ability of a driver to accelerate harshly. Benefits include reductions in fuel usage, CO2 output and wear and tear on components, a smoother ride for passengers and enhanced safety for them and other road users.
Among the items on TfL’s compulsory list for 2019 are blind spot mirrors, reversing cameras and screens that protect drivers from being assaulted. Changes to the interior, including better slip-resistant floor surfaces, will be obligatory too. So will acoustic vehicle alerting systems, to warn vulnerable road users that a bus is in the vicinity.
Some of these items are already fitted in many cases. All new electric and hybrid buses will have to be fitted with acoustic warning systems from 2022 anyway, no matter where they are in the country.
A key problem with warning systems is that the noise they make can disturb an entire neighbourhood. Long aware of this risk, Brigade Electronics has developed reversing alarms which emit a wide range of broad band sound frequencies which dissipate quickly. This means their distinctive ‘ssh-ssh’ warning can only be heard in the danger zone, the company points out, and not at unnecessary distances away from the vehicle.
By contrast, traditional tonal alarms can be heard up to 30 times further away than white sound alarms, says Brigade. Drivers can become desensitised to the noise as a consequence and start ignoring it. The racket created can cause people who work and live in the vicinity considerable, needless, stress – and even hearing damage, claims the firm – if it keeps occurring day after wearisome day.
“People don’t want to be woken up early in the morning or late at night by a piercing reversing alarm,” observed Brigade’s Marketing Manager, Emily Hardy. Brigade’s bbs-tek White Sound alarms have PIEK/Noise Abatement Society certification for use after hours – good news for operators who are running late night services – and have been granted the Quiet Mark too. This is an international award for excellence in quiet product design and has been granted to a wide variety of goods, from dishwashers to garden power tools.
Keeping an eye out
As well as reversing alarms, Brigade offers Backeye camera-based monitoring systems for use inside and outside vehicles and Backeye360. A four-camera package, it is designed to eliminate blind spots by providing a complete 360-degree view of the areas around a vehicle in a single image on a screen in the driver’s cab.
TfL aims to make the use of interlocks to prevent buses from rolling away if the driver forgets to apply the parking brake compulsory from 2021 onwards. In addition there will be measures intended to prevent drivers from pressing the accelerator rather than the brake pedal. TfL wants to see greater standardisation in this area to minimise the danger of drivers becoming confused by different pedal layouts or pedal feel as they switch from one make and model of bus to another.
Further aids to make it easier for the driver to see vulnerable road users will be mandatory, including blind spot camera monitoring – something Brigade will certainly applaud. So will better protection for pedestrians against being struck by the windscreen wiper mounting points or external mirrors. This is likely to lead to wiper mounting points being moved to the top of the screen or fitted with an energy-absorbing cover, and bulky rear-view mirrors being swapped for cameras linked to an in-cab monitor.
ADL has been busy promoting its new SmartVision digital cameras and interior displays as an alternative to conventional exterior mirrors. They are sourced from Vision Systems in France via 21st Century Technology, its UK distributor.
TfL wants to see seats with higher backs installed in order to lessen the risk of whiplash injuries under heavy braking, and grab poles that will not injure people who are thrown against them as the bus judders to a halt in an emergency. Higher backs mean more weight, so TfL wants to see seats developed that are light yet strong, and deliver better neck protection.
Already compulsory on new coaches Europe-wide, with WABCO among the companies playing a major role in its development, Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) is scheduled to arrive on London’s buses in 2024, and poses potential difficulties. Unlike coaches, buses carry standees who could be thrown to the floor if the brakes are suddenly applied automatically, and might be injured. If they are, then they will probably sue – we live in a litigious age.
TRL Vehicle Safety and Technology Consultant, Alix Edwards, has been deeply involved with the TfL programme. She argues that AEB applies the brakes with no greater force than a driver would use if he or she has to hit the pedal in an emergency. AEB can generate false positives however, and the risk of its doing so may require further investigation. “Remember that a balance always has to be struck between the casualties that might be avoided if AEB is applied and any risk to people on the bus,” Alix said.
Further changes to bus design are in the pipeline to give pedestrians a greater chance of avoiding potentially life-changing injuries if they are hit by one. TfL is laying down minimum head impact requirements, with energy-absorbing materials used under the front panels. Some of the other measures it is contemplating include front corners that are more rounded and windscreens that slope more acutely. The idea is to deflect pedestrians upwards if they are struck, and lessen the risk that they will end up flat on the ground (and promptly get run over).
One measure TfL is keen to see introduced is a device, rather like an airbag, mounted under the front of a bus that drops down on contact with a pedestrian. It should stop the luckless individual ending up under the vehicle.
What all the foregoing measures have in common is that they will push up bus prices. Much of the technology is of course being adopted elsewhere in the motor industry, which should help limit price increases thanks to economies of scale; but the customer will still be faced with a bigger invoice to settle.
Both TRL and TfL are aware of the potential cost of much of what is being mooted, says Alix, and would not wish to make buses prohibitively pricey: “Fewer casualties mean fewer insurance claims though,” she pointed out. And that means fewer pay-outs.
A framework is being developed with the support of TfL, which will be used to assess any further suggestions bus builders may have to enhance safety under the ‘Safety Technology Initiative Award’ banner.
Serious loss
There are areas the TfL document does not directly tackle which all operators have to address wherever they are. Among them is the danger of wheel loss while a vehicle is in motion. A number of businesses – Checkpoint is among the best-known ones – have developed products that detect when wheel nuts are working loose and prevent them from spinning off completely.
Now available from Michelin, Wheely Safe warns drivers by means of a radio frequency alert when wheel nuts are insufficiently tight. It also issues warnings if tyres are losing pressure or brake linings or wheel hubs are overheating.
Overheating can of course lead to fire, and glowing linings and hubs are not the sole potential causes of conflagration. Fires can start in engine bays too, and potentially lead to loss of life. As a consequence, automatic engine bay fire suppression systems will soon be made compulsory under UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) regulation R107 for all vehicles that can carry more than 22 passengers. The rules will apply throughout 45 countries, including the UK.
They will become mandatory so far as all newly-registered coaches and double-decker buses are concerned from 11 July 2019, points out fire suppression equipment specialist Fogmaker. All newly-registered single-decker buses must comply by 1 September 2021. A variety of different extinguishing agents can be specified, including foam, powder and liquid mist. An alarm is usually included to alert the driver if a blaze breaks out.
Any suppression equipment fitted must comply with a variety of testing protocols, says Rotarex Firetec, another specialist in the field. They include a re-ignition test. Oil is dripped onto a surface heated to 600 °C to see if the fire flares up again once it has been put out. The test is passed if re-ignition is prevented for at least 45 seconds.
Some companies placed more emphasis on certain extinguishing agents than others. Fogmaker, for example, says that its water-based mist has an advantage because it cools the heat, drives out oxygen and smothers all the surfaces.
What about a fire on an electric bus? Some firms advocate a gaseous fire suppression agent called Novec 1320 from 3M. It puts out fires by removing the heat and is likely to be less damaging to electrics than liquid or powder extinguishing agents.
While some of the technology outlined above may sound a little daunting, Brigade highlights the extent to which coach and bus firms have embraced the latest technological developments in recent years. Automatic vehicle location devices used to provide real-time tracking are fitted to 97% of buses, it points out, 43% can take contactless bank cards and 25% offer free WiFi.
Furthermore, 91% of buses are equipped with CCTV. Its performance is steadily improving, with sophisticated systems from companies such as 21st Century and Synectics delivering pin-sharp images that make it far easier for miscreants to be positively identified and brought to court.
Behind the wheel
All the onboard technology in the world will be to no avail if whoever is at the wheel has been disqualified from driving without their employer’s knowledge, or was never qualified to drive a coach or bus in the first place.
“Licence Bureau was the first company to develop a unique driving licence verification system based on a three-year declaration accessing the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s driver database,” say Sales Director, Steve Pinchen. “This entitles us, with a driver’s permission, to access their DVLA driver record to highlight everything from licence category qualifications to points on their licence.”
Alerts can be triggered if any issues arise. It also keeps an eye on the driver’s Certificate of Professional Competence. Questions may arise as to when it expires, how much training has been undertaken in order to qualify for the next one and whether the individual holds a CPC in the first place.
“We also provide a pre-employment screening service,” says Pinchen. It addresses everything from bankruptcy orders to criminal records checks. “Our approach minimises the danger to an operator of employing disqualified drivers while ensuring businesses comply with complex driver management legislation,” he says. “This reduces corporate risks and insurance premiums, typically by 11% to 13%.”
As its name suggests, Licence Check provides a licence checking service too, as well as an online profiling system that assesses the individual’s road knowledge and his or her ability to perceive hazards and react to them. It can then judge how big a risk they present to themselves, their passengers and other road users.
Such an approach can be complemented by onboard driver monitoring technology from companies such as MiX Telematics, which can identify if drivers have a tendency to speed, accelerate or brake too harshly, or take bends too quickly.
Armed with this information, an employer can offer targeted training, and hopefully turn a mediocre and potentially dangerous driver into a much better one.
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