Working Party on Passive Safety | Session 65 | 13-17 May 2019
Geneva
Agenda Item 26.
Securing of children in buses and coaches

43. The expert from Spain introduced GRSP-65-11, showing that there were no specific requirements for children travelling in buses and coaches, unlike children in passenger cars. She added that specifications in UN Regulations Nos. 44 and 129 were only to secure children on M1 category of vehicles. Therefore, she stated that it was time to establish requirements for securing children in M2 and M3 vehicles, based on real accidents in these type of vehicles with the priority of avoiding ejection of occupants. She therefore proposed to develop a new UN Regulation for securing children in buses and coaches and to establish an IWG to develop the work. The expert from Sweden introduced GRSP-65-26, showing that generally, buses in his country were not designed for the transportation of children. The expert from the United States of America provided information through links to how children were transported in his country:
School Bus Safety (NHTSA)
School Bus Facts: Safety Features
Child Safety Restraint Systems Basics video
Introduction to Child Safety Restraint Systems on School Buses video

44. The expert from EC underlined how the rate of wearing safety-belts was dramatically low in buses. He suggested that wearing should be combined with safety-belt reminders and that a study on cost-benefit analysis on their presence on buses would be considered in the work of the IWG proposed by the expert from Spain. The experts from Germany, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sweden, CLEPA and GlobalNCAP supported the proposal to establish an IWG and to provide a contribution.

45. Finally, GRSP agreed to seek consent of WP.29 at its June 2019 session to establish an IWG on “Securing of Children in buses and coaches” and to request the secretariat to inform the Working Party on General Safety (GRSG) at its October 2019 session.

Documentation
GRSP-65-11 Securing of children in buses and coaches (Spain)
GRSP-65-26 Securing of children in buses and coaches (Sweden)