This March, the Transportation Association of Maryland will again designate March as Wheelchair Safety and Securement Awareness Month. According to the United States Census, the percentage of individuals with disabilities that use public transportation is 6 percent and 3.3 million individuals over the age of 15 use mobility devices such as wheelchairs.
Transit agencies have the responsibility to provide safe transportation and respect the civil rights of all passengers, including those who use mobility devices. In order to fulfill this responsibility, bus operators secure mobility devices and place seat belts on the passengers who use mobility devices as transit seating. This important task is becoming increasingly challenging as operators are confronted with a variety of powered mobility devices that often lack traditional securement points and may not have been addressed in basic securement training.
By bringing awareness to this issue, TAM will host two wheelchair securement training sessions (on March 6th and 15th) at its offices in Linthicum. These sessions will be presented by expert instructors John Hill and Jim Stafford, and will include hands-on training with an on-site bus and wheelchair. Attendees will receive a certificate for completing the training. TAM hopes that all those who participate in the transportation of individuals with disabilities will take a moment during the month of March to review their processes and procedures for conducting these types of activities.
