School Buses & Seat-Belts – Continued Confusion and Misunderstanding
The CBC has ignited a controversy regarding seat-belt use on school buses that has resulted in confusion and misunderstanding.
We all understand that keeping children safe on school buses is of great importance. However what may appear to be an obvious solution is not. This issue is complicated and a quick fix may lead to more danger than is realized.
In the most recent news, the CBC has reported that certain Micro Bird minibuses contain a safety detect with respect to insufficient padding at the back face of seat-backs. This lack of padding could cause injury to children during heavy braking or other longitudinal deceleration such as a frontal impact. The requirement for padding evolves from the fact that school buses are not equipped with seat-belts and the padding is needed as the partial substitute.
It needs to be understood that minibuses are far different from full size buses with respect to the type and severity of injuries that could be generated. Minibuses, as the name implies, are much smaller and weight much less than full size school buses. These are important facts. Mass (weight) is a critical factor in determining whether an occupant will be injured and what type or severity of injury will be sustained. Because of their lower mass and volume minibuses may generate different types and severities of injuries than full size school buses. This point has never been made in discussions about school bus seat-belts.
Unfortunately many persons are jumping on the bandwagon and declaring their support for installation of seat-belts on school buses without really understanding why Transport Canada decided not to mandate their installation. Seat-belt installation and usage may help prevent some injuries and reduce the severity of others but on the flip side, other injuries will occur through usage of seat-belts, some of which could be life-threatening. The discussion so far is short on examining the full complexity of the issue and this could adversely affect the safety of innocent children.
Fires Continue to Erupt After Recent Collisions
A photo was posted on the CP24 News website describing a fatal collision in Pickering, Ontario. The collision is under investigation by Ontario’s Special Investigation Unit (SIU). The SIU becomes involved when serious injuries occur that might be caused by police. Aside from the SIU investigation the photo above shows that a Purolator truck was one of the vehicles involved in the incident. Markings on the front and left side of the truck provide obvious signs that it had caught fire.
Little concern is being expressed by the news media and police investigators with respect to the number of fires that have been occurring after recent serious collisions. These fires are important because they are a genuine threat to the lives of persons who may not be able to exit a damaged vehicle. Being trapped inside a damaged vehicle is not an uncommon occurrence. Especially when the damage (crush) is significant. The damage is necessary in order to dissipate the kinetic energy of a crash. However sometimes such damage may entrap an occupant. Emergency personnel are needed to perform a variety of cutting and prying of the vehicle structure in order to free an occupant. But when a fire erupts it can engulf a vehicle before emergency personnel can arrive. Or, even if emergency personnel arrive, the fire may have spread so much that it may be too late. That is why it is crucially important to make note of collisions where fires erupt and to report those incidents to government agencies such as Transport Canada.
Transport Canada is the agency responsible for the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (CMVSS). One of those standards governs the eruption of fires after motor vehicle collisions. Transport Canada must monitor the eruption of fires in real life collisions to determine whether additional actions are needed to protect the public. If Transport Canada is not notified that information is lost. Thus there should be inquiries made to determine if police agencies are following the proper procedures and notifying Transport Canada of these dangerous incidents.
Observed Speed of Vehicles On Hwy 401 At Four Sites
View showing several cones placed at 100-metre intervals with video cameras pointed at each cone location along Highway 401. This method enables an average speed to be calculated within each road segment.
What kind of safety problems exist along the busiest highway in Canada? Government agencies such as the Ontario Ministry of Transportation monitor traffic along Highway 401 but that information is not made available to the public. Some of this data could be educational and therefore valuable for the public’s ability to make informed conclusions about what actions need to be taken to improve the Highway’s safety.
In response Gorski Consulting has engaged in a series of documentations of traffic with the use of multiple, synchronized, video cameras. The documentations typically involve a highway overpass where cameras can be set up to look along the length of the highway. Additionally, cameras are placed at markers spaced out at 100-metre intervals (example shown above) such that average speeds can be obtained within those intervals.These methods enable calculations of important facts regarding traffic motions and potential safety problems. Gorski Consulting will be presenting an number of findings from these studies in order to inform and educate the public on these important issues.
In this present article we present the general results of average speeds of westbound traffic at four different sites, as noted below.
Location of testing sites along Highway 401 where traffic observations were made.
The table below provides a summary of those observations.
Several explanations need to be provided to appreciate the meaning of these data. Firstly, heavy, Class 8 trucks, which are typically a tractor with one or more trailers, have their speeds governed (limited) to a maximum of about 105 km/h. These trucks are mixed in with the higher-speed, light vehicles such as passenger cars, pick-ups, SUVs, etc. While most of these trucks travel within the right lane, some of them travel in the median lane for short periods especially when proceeding with a passing motion of another, slower truck. The above data includes the speed of those slower trucks except in the Elgin Road site where no trucks were observed in the median lane. The explanation at the Elgin Road site is because the highway at this location is made up of 3 lanes. Thus heavy trucks that make a passing motion will move from the right lane into the middle lane so that they do not need to travel in the median lane.
Some appreciation of the traffic volumes can be had from noting that observations were made for just under 8 minutes at the Elgin Road site yet 62 vehicles were documented in that short time. Conversely at the Dillon Road site documentations were carried out for over 40 minutes, or about 5 times as long, while slightly over 2 times more observations (119) were made. So the volume of traffic in the median lane at the Dillon site was much less, there were fewer trucks in that lane and the average speed of vehicles was therefore higher.
Data like this needs to be evaluated when discussions are made about the safety of Highway 401. Many members of the public have questions about the safety of installations such as the high tension median barrier that is being installed between Tilbury and London. This installation is precisely in the zone of three of the four sites being discussed in this article. Construction is also being carried out in this zone and much concern has been expressed about how this leads to crashes with stopped vehicles. Also when snowfall arrives there will be conclusions expressed about the collisions that will result. All these concerns by the public need quality data which Gorski Consulting hopes to provide.
This report provides a preliminary example of the type of data that will be revealed and discussed in future items posted in this Gorski Consulting website in the near future.
The Honorable Mr. Harry Leslie Smith
“I am one of the last few remaining voices left from a generation of men and women who built a better society for our children and grandchildren out of the horrors of the second world war, as well as the hunger of the Great Depression. Sadly, that world my generation helped build on a foundation of decency and fair play is being swept away by neoliberalism and the greed of the 1%, which has brought discord around the globe. Today, the western world stands at its most dangerous juncture since the 1930s.” (Harry Leslie Smith)
Mr. Smith reminds us that each day we awake and step forward to a crossroad that has profound implications on where we arrive at sundown.
Honorably, Mr. Smith passed away on November 28, 2018.
Highway 401 – Four Sites Explored for Traffic Motions & Problems
Gorski Consulting has now completed four sites along Highway 401 in southwestern Ontario where video data was obtained to explore traffic motions and potential safety problems. The map below shows the sites.
Location of testing sites along Highway 401 where traffic observations were made.
Analysis of the video data is ongoing. One of several safety concerns along the highway is the installation of a high-tension cable barrier system between Tilbury and London, Ontario. Some local groups have expressed concerns whether the cable barrier will stop massive tractor-trailers from crossing the median.
Given that 40 to 50 % of traffic travelling along this section of Highway 401 is made up of heavy trucks it is imperative that a median barrier be of such a design that prevents median cross-over collisions.
Gorski consulting expects to study a variety of safety issues and traffic patterns. Results will be posted on the Gorski Consulting website (www.gorskiconulting.com). More scholarly assessments will be written as technical papers and will also be presented at a variety of future conferences.
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