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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2020 Oct:88:103178.
doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2020.103178. Epub 2020 Jun 12.

Increasing evacuation flow through school bus emergency roof hatches

Leslie Gunter  1 , Jerry Davis  2 , Yousif Abulhassan  3 , Richard Sesek  4 , Mark Schall  5 , Sean Gallagher  6
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Increasing evacuation flow through school bus emergency roof hatches

Leslie Gunter et al. Appl Ergon. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Emergency escape roof hatches are used to evacuate school buses in rolled-over orientations. In the United States, the minimum opening size of a roof hatch is defined by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) no. 217. With the prevalence of rising obesity rates among children, the minimum roof hatch opening size may not be large enough to accommodate larger passengers. Post-accident conditions such as injuries, disorientation, and exit obstructions may also prevent unobstructed passage for egress within acceptable time limits. The purpose of this study was to redesign and fabricate a roof hatch with a larger opening and evaluate its egress characteristics for a range of typical school bus passengers. The larger roof hatch opening allows greater evacuation flow rates, and is almost functionally equivalent to the evacuation flow rate of the front door on an upright school bus.

Keywords: Accident; Emergency exits; Evacuation; Roll-over; School bus; Students; Surface transportation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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