NOVA Articulated Bus Wheelchair Issues

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NOVA Articulated Bus Wheelchair Issues Report

(Halifax Metro Transit)

By Daniel J TowseyFebruary 23rd 2011

http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/wheelchairrights

Introduction

This is a report pertaining to human rights and people with disabilities who require theuse of a motorized wheelchair to enjoy life and social events.

Metro Transit has recently acquired new $800,000+ articulated buses and are runningthem on what Metro transit terms as wheelchair designated bus routes, meaning that thebuses and all bus stops on that route are supposed to be wheelchair accessible.

I will make this simple point about accessible bus stops . It is absolutely not true that the

designated wheelchair routes bus stops are all accessible.

Please be advised that I have recently written and filed a human rights complaint againsthalifax metro transit, which is now under investigation by the Nova Scotia Human RightsCommission. This complaint pertains to all issues about how metro transit treats andhandles people with disabilities needs and their basic human rights by showing no dignityand respect to the disabled. Also that metro transit policies discriminates against people inwheelchairs.

Issues about the NOVA bus

I recently boarded a NOVA articulated bus with my wheelchair, only to discover that it

was impossible for me to use the bus and would of been very dangerous to attempt it.

So I will now give you a very accurate and detailed report as to why the NOVA buses areso dangerous for anyone in an electric wheelchair and anyone else who maybe nearby inthe bus.

I do have to say that I was totally shocked and amazed as to the stupidity of who everengineered the dangerous set up for wheelchairs in the NOVA bus.

I think after you complete the reading of this report you will be in complete agreement.

Wheelchair users are told to pull in to the side and then rear face their chair and back upagainst an upholstered rectangular pad that has a three inch pipe in the back of it goingvertical from the floor to the roof.

How would you like to be in a wheelchair and have to face backward and be facing all thepassengers on the bus who are sitting facing forward? That would be completelyundignified and very embarrassing.
http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/wheelchairrightshttp://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/wheelchairrights


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Then consider that if you are traveling in an unfamiliar area you will never know when tosignal the driver that you want to get off at the next stop.

Also please understand that backing up in an electric wheelchair is very difficult andhazardous as I can not see behind me and I have to follow the drivers instructions.

So I started to back up as instructed. Then I felt a horrible pain as the supporting frame ofmy headrest hit the pad and caused my headrest to be pushed really hard against the backof my head.

(I trusted the driver and he never thought to look at where the back of my chair wasgoing.)

This was very painful as I wear a rigid neck brace as I have a completely broken back, Ihave spinal injuries to my neck, a third of my ribs are broken. I also wear an abdomenbrace.

I need to rest my arms on my arm rests to keep my spine straight and I have a plastic(Bone) prosthesis in my right upper arm.

The bending of my backrest caused my right arm prosthesis to raise up above myshoulder.The prosthesis is not attached to my shoulder blade.This was very painful and dangerous to my health.

This prosthesis is not attached to my skeletal structure. So that when the back of myheadrest was pushed against me it also caused the backrest of my chair to bend.

If I had not backed up very slowly the plastic backrest of my chair would of broke andthis would of risked my life and created a very serious situation.

The neck brace prevents my head from tilting in any direction. So when the chairs headrest pushed against my head it caused my rigid neck brace to push down against my chin,shoulders and chest, which then pushed in and put pressure against my many broken ribsand my broken T8 backbone..

You see the head rests are bolted near the top of the backrest.Now consider that my chair with me in it weighs 750lbs, then also consider theconsiderable power of my wheelchairs motors.

So I had an extraordinary amount of energy pushing against my back, neck and head.

The engineers believed that the stop strip along the floor would of provided a place forthe wheelchair to rest against.

But that is not possible as the slanted backrest of wheelchairs can be further back then thetwo rear small outboard suspension caster wheels of the wheelchair.


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Then also consider that every wheelchair user has a knapsack (School bag) hanging offthe back of the wheelchair. Then consider how balky this is when it is full.

So how can someone in a wheelchair go out shopping if they can not transport theirthings home in their bag that is hanging on the backrest.

How can they back up against that pad?

So then if I had been able to park against that pad the driver said he was going to attachjust one anchor strap to the lower front side of my chair.

Again I was shocked as to the stupidity of the engineers.

So that meant that if the bus made a sudden turn and especially if on a slope. My chairwould most definitely slide across the floor and be pivoted at the end of that single strap.

Then this would most surely cause the chair to flip onto its side and risk killing theoccupant as the over 500 pounds of chair crushes the disabled person.

OH please understand that the Halifax area of Nova Scotia has hills everywhere.

For at least the past twenty years all manufactures of wheelchairs have provided fourwelded metal rings for the chair to be held down securely while in a bus.

Why would the designer of the Nova bus not have known why this is so?

I will now explain the suspension dynamics of motorized wheelchairs.

Most wheelchairs now have two out board stability caster wheels in the front and two inthe back. Then they have two large main driving wheels in the center.

The two front caster wheels are rigidly mounted to the frame structure of the wheelchairwhere as the two back outboard caster wheels are on two pivoting control arms that aresuspended by shock absorbing pistons and also load bear spring suspension.

The back control arms have a movement range of up to twelve inches.

The front caster wheels are attached rigidly to prevent the occupant of the wheelchairfrom being lurched violently forward every time the chair is being braked to a stop. It isabsolutely necessary for the front casters to be rigidly attached.

The back casters have to be able to move up and down so that the wheelchair can go upinclines as at cutouts for sidewalks.

If the back outboard wheels did not do this then the two large drive wheels would end uploosing contact with the ground as the chair would then be resting on only the outboard


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caster wheels.

So now I would like you to understand why it is absolutely necessary for wheelchairs toface forward while in a moving vehicle.

If a chair were to face backward, then every time the bus would stop the wheelchairwould rock and tilt backward then the front wheels would be lifted off the floor.

Then the occupant would be crushed against that pad I described earlier.

Wheelchairs need to face forward and they need to be solidly anchored to the floor of thevehicle with four straps made of cargo strap material and not made of seatbelt materialthat is designed to only hold up to three hundred pounds which is well above the weightof an average human being. But far below the 500 lbs weight of my wheelchair and thenadd to that my 225lbs you get over 700 lbs.

Some people have said that the automobile seatbelt webbing straps are safe and sufficientto hold down a wheelchair.

That is incorrect. In the event of a horrific accident, if any one strap shears off then all theothers will then shear off. The anchoring of the wheelchair is only as strong as theweakest point.

Having seven hundred pounds pulling on one anchor strap in a violent accident wouldsurely tear the seatbelt strap. What are the odds that an accident would equally dispersethe weight of me and my chair equally on to two straps at exactly the same time in aviolent accident?

Thankfully the buses are very huge and solid. And Metro transit has excellent drivers.

Side note about other buses that use the hookless straps. Please consider that drivers willattempt to wrap the straps around anything they can see on the wheelchair.

This is dangerous as the webbing could be wrapped around sharp edged steel framing

and would cause the straps to tear in the event of a violent traffic accident.

Often the location the driver choose to wrap around may actually be too weak to be safe

or it may damage the wheelchair itself.

So I say that under no circumstances should an electric wheelchair ever be not solidlyanchored with all four anchor points. While in a moving vehicle.

Other wise it would be a serious negligence on the part of any public transit system toallow the NOVA buses to accept wheelchairs onboard while these buses are in the


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condition I indicated above.

Remeding the problem would be minimal in cost. Compared to what a lawsuit againstNOVA bus and any municipality that is operating these buses would cost if someone wasinjured because the wheelchair was not secured properly to the bus.

Please note that this report will be published on the internet and available to anyone toread at any time.

You can contact me at email address below..


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Documents

NOVA Articulated Bus Wheelchair Issues