Safety--Key Quality Factor in Public Transit for Mobility Impaired People

Safety is a key aspect in global transport policy. The current paper, based on parts of the work done in the ACCESS2ALL FP7 project, aims at describing and discussing the public transit safety issues from different perspectives, namely safety as a quality aspect, safe traveling within different modes, and safety and risk management. It is argued that the current European public transit quality standards fail to fully acknowledge the safety of older and disabled passengers. Even though using public transit generally means choosing a safe transport mode, the whole travel chain must be considered with potential hazard to and from terminals or stops. Since previous studies hitherto have been focusing on vehicle design, harm reduction by decreased crash probability (active safety) or minimization of consequences, the majority of passenger injuries seem to have a low severity, and thus been neglected and unreported. This is a major problem, as the occurrence of such incidents can be relatively high, and thus have a high impact in terms of both objective and subjective safety, especially for older and disabled passengers. Mobility impaired passengers are often frail, thus more prone to sustain injuries. Whether ambulant or using wheelchair as seats in vehicles, passengers with functional limitations often rely on accessible public transit for basic mobility and social participation. Thus, safety considerations for these passenger groups need to be in focus in order to promote societal integration. A safety assessment framework is proposed, containing a technical as well as a human perspective. In order to address these two perspectives, a systematic risk management approach must be adapted, following the risk assessment sequence: identification, analysis, evaluation, and treatment. This sequence should be followed by risk treatment according to a risk evaluation matrix, supported by epidemiological data on likelihood and injury severity. The risk management approach must also acknowledge the importance of creating a safety culture within the specific contractual situation, encompassing all stakeholders on the strategic as well as the tactical level.