1Scientific Society of Mechanical Engineers (GTE), Budapest, Hungary
The bus driver is a key person is an accident, he is skilled, he knows what to do, he can operate the systems in the bus, he can help to the passengers, but their fatality/injury risk is 10-100 times higher than that of the passengers. Nowadays there is no international regulation providing any protection for the bus drivers in case of frontal collisions. Based on the technical analysis of real bus head on impacts this paper tries to collect the major issues which may help to develop international regulations in this subject. These are:
The paper refers to a practical solution, which can help to protect the driver: the principle of the safety platform. A rigid (in its plane) platform is used in the DC with a soft, deformable connection to the frame of the DC. The driver seat, the steering column is fixed to this platform. On the effect of the horizontal impact load the safety platform is pushed back in the DC together with the driver seat and steering column providing the required survival space for the driver.