Consumers & Professionals: Continuing to Learn!

Use this directory of educational resources to find the Wheelchair Transportation Safety topic that interests you:

Educational Documents

New! Guidelines for Use of Secondary Postural Support Devices by Wheelchair Users During Travel in Motor Vehicles - learn about best practices (450MB PDF)
Need for and Benefits of Wheelchair Transportation Safety
Research Summaries - these are summaries of technical and research-oriented articles written by the project staff. They are summarized into "layman's" language so they can be more easily pulled into the thinking and practice of consumers, therapists, transportation planners and others.
Why buy a WC19 Compliant Wheelchair? - this is a link to a PDF document that describes why you should ask for--even demand--a WC19 compliant wheelchair.
A report on a Survey of Bus Riders who use wheelchairs as seats on fixed-route public transportation. To be published in a wheelchair transportation special focus issue of Assistive Technology, Spring 2006.

PowerPoint Presentations and Slide Shows

Transportation Safety for Wheelchair Seated Drivers - a presentation at the 31st Annual Association of Driver Rehabilitation Specialist Conference, Dallas, Texas. June 30, 2007 - Presenter: Linda van Roosmalen, PhD
- Power Point (Without sled test videos) (22.9 MB PPT file) (Note: some alternative sled test videos are available on this website)
- Power Point (Including sled test videos - this version of the presentation is not yet available.)
Transportation Safety for Wheelchair Occupants - a 3 part HTML version of a PowerPoint slide lecture that provides an overview of this entire topic. This presentation was created by Drs. Linda van Roosmalen and DongRan Ha.
Wheelchair Transportation Safety for Wheelchair Occupants - a comprehensive slide lecture delivered by Drs. Linda van Roosmalen and Douglas Hobson at the International Seating Symposium, Vancouver BC March 2004.
Handouts from a Wheelchair Transportation Safety Presentation by Drs. Douglas Hobson and Mary Ellen Buning at the International Seating Symposium, Orlando FL, January 2005
- Session 1 - Intro to Standards (98K .pdf)
- Session 2 - Biomechanics (45MB .pdf)
- Session 3 - Overview of Transit Safety Standards
- Session 4 - Real World Transportation Situtations (40MB .pdf)
- Session 5 - Transportation Safety Resources (977KB .pdf)
- Session 6 - Overview of Research and Development (15MB .pdf)

Tool Kit for Teaching Others About Wheelchair Transportation Safety

Link to power point presentations, handouts and other resources for teaching others!

The Ride Safe Brochure

Vehicle Safety for People Who Ride in Wheelchairs
When traveling in a motor vehicle, it is generally safer to transfer to a vehicle seat and use the vehicle's occupant safety restraint systems or a child restraint system that complies with federal safety standards. After transferring, stow or secure the wheelchair during travel.

If transferring is NOT possible, or if the rider needs the support of the wheelchair seating system, read the step by step instructions in this brochure. Choose a WC-19-compliant wheelchair, secure it to the vehicle floor and use properly positioned, crash-tested belt restraints to keep the rider in his or her seat.

The Ride Safe brochure information is available at: www.travelsafer.org

Now available in Spanish!

MediaSite Live Presentations on the Web

This resource adds video presentations on wheelchair transportation safety to this website. MediaSite Live is a technology that lets Windows and Macintosh computer users view archived video stored on a central website designed to serve these videos. Our webserver is located at the U of Pittsburgh.

Note: for the following video formats, user may need to download addition software such as Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player or Real Player. Follow the on-screen prompts.

Wheelchair Transportation Safety - Ride Safe 2008: a video presentation of the information contained within the RideSafe Brochure - by Mary Ellen Buning, PhD, OTR/L, ATP
Transportation Safety for Wheelchair Occupants: a video presentation by Linda Van Roomalen, PhD, University of Pittsburgh
Transporting Preschoolers and Young Children with Special Healthcare Need: a video presentation by Miriam Manary, MSE University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and Lori Brinkey, MPT University of Michigan Health System
Recorded at the International Seating Symposium in March 2009
Driving with a Disability - Clinical and Technical perspectives: Linda van Roosmalen, Ph.D. and Amy Lane, OTR/L, CDRS, University of Pittsburgh
Recorded at the International Seating Symposium in March 2009

Last updated: October 6, 2010