WHEELCHAIRS UNSAFE FOR USE IN MOVING VEHICLES --
            BUT RESEARCH AT U.VA. COULD HELP CHANGE THAT

     CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Dec. 20 -- Many people travel sitting in
wheelchairs -- despite labels that warn against their use as vehicle
seats. Travel-safe wheelchairs are just over the consumer horizon
with the aid of research at the University of Virginia.
	Some current wheelchairs may collapse and increase the risk
of serious injury to the user when the vehicle they're in is
involved in a collision, said Walter D. Pilkey, professor of
mechanical engineering and director of U.Va.'s Automobile Safety
Laboratory.
	Pilkey said the only safety-tested way to ride in a vehicle
at present is belted into one of its seats. So wheelchair users who
can't transfer to a standard vehicle seat must ignore the warning
labels placed on many chairs if they want to ride in a van or bus. 
	 U.Va.'s research team is using simulated crashes to develop
design specifications that wheelchairs must meet for use in a
vehicle. Topping the list, notes Pilkey, is a requirement that they
won't collapse in a collision.
	To simulate what happens to the chairs during an accident,
wheelchairs carrying test dummies are mounted on a steel sled and
tied down as they would be in a vehicle. The sled is propelled along
a track and hits a heavy barrier at 30 miles an hour.
	Electronic sensors in the test dummies record the forces
that a human being would experience. High-speed cameras record how
the wheelchair supports the dummies and how far forward they move.
	Researchers study the films to see if a wheelchair user's
body would hit the dashboard or other vehicle parts, and use the
data to develop design changes that reduce or avoid the damaging
impacts.
	Some wheelchairs already in wide use have held up well in
crash tests so the researchers think that most current designs can
be made travel-safe without costly changes, said Pilkey.
	"Our ultimate goal is to develop wheelchairs that provide a
level of transport safety comparable to that offered by the standard
vehicle seat," he said. "We're developing these specifications in
conjunction with the users and manufacturers of wheelchairs and with
other researchers." 
	Safer design specification for the devices used to secure
wheelchairs and their users in vehicles also are being developed by
the research team. These will be published next year and are
expected to be adopted as a national standard, according to Pilkey.
 	A new securement design that promises to be not only safe
but easy to operate is being developed by U.Va. engineering
professor Colin McLaurin, he added.
	Both the National Institute for Disability and
Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) and the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA) are funding the work, which is
expected to be completed in the next two years.
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December 19, 1994
	FOR MORE INFORMATION, Walter D. Pilkey can be reached by
telephone at (804) 924-3291 or by E-mail at wdp@virginia.edu where
you can leave your name, organization and phone or E-mail number.