Non-collision incidents on buses due to acceleration and braking manoeuvres leading to falling events among standing passengers

On public transport buses, standing passengers are subject to acceleration and braking driver manoeuvres which may lead to a falling event. This study investigates the characteristics of such events connected to driver manoeuvres (i.e., acceleration or braking), passenger conditions (i.e., boarding, travelling, alighting), and injury severity. The data for analyses comprise three and a half years (2015–2018). All passengers were standing at the time of the fall event and were treated at hospital emergency departments (ED) after the falling event. The results highlight aspects which may need further attention. For example, the involvement of females is not only high for the 65 ​+ ​age group, this is also the case for younger age groups which indicates that acceleration/deceleration threshold values for sustaining balance may differ by gender. Furthermore, driver manoeuvres and passenger conditions are important characteristics impacting the mechanisms of falling differently. In acceleration manoeuvres, older passengers (aged 65+) are most often involved in a fall inmediately after boarding, whereas falls during braking manoeuvres are most common while travelling, and mostly involving the 25-64 years-old age group. These findings may indicate that acceleration and braking manoeuvres should be studied separately. It is worth noting that driving style might influence the risk of losing balance for standing passengers, and shortening the time to get seated can be beneficial for reducing the risk of falling, especially for the elderly users after boarding the bus. •Younger female age groups show also a high involvement in falling events on buses.•Hard acceleration manouevres lead to falls generally immediately after ‘boarding’ involving mostly the oldest age group.•Hard braking manouevres lead to falls while ‘travelling’ most of the time involving generally younger age groups.•Age is a factor to consider in hard acceleration. Whereas, gender is a factor in hard breaking manouevres.•Improved driver support can be beneficial for reducing the risk of falling for standing bus passengers, especially for the elderly and female users.