Applying basic principles of child passenger safety to improving transportation safety for children who travel while seated in wheelchairs

Abstract

Occupant restraint systems are designed based on knowledge of crash dynamics and the application of proven occupant-protection principles. For ambulatory children or children who use wheelchairs but can transfer out of their wheelchair when traveling in motor vehicles, there is a range of child safety seats that comply with federal safety standards and that therefore offer high levels of crash protection. For children who remain seated in wheelchairs for travel, the use of wheelchairs and wheelchair tiedown and occupant restraint systems (WTORS) that comply with voluntary industry standards significantly enhances safety. Revisions to the initial versions of these standards will further improve safety for smaller children who travel seated in wheelchairs by requiring wheelchairs for children between 13 and 22 kg (18 and 50 lb) to provide a five-point, wheelchair-integrated crash-tested harness similar to that used in forward-facing child safety seats. While wheelchair and tiedown/restraint manufacturers, van modifiers, transportation personnel, clinicians, and others involved with children who use wheelchairs have clearly defined responsibilities relative to providing these children with safe transportation, parents and caregivers should be knowledgeable about best-practice in wheelchair transportation safety and should use this knowledge to advocate for the safest transportation possible.