TRAVERSE CITY -- At least four disabled people have been hurt on Bay Area Transportation Authority buses over the past year while seated on wheelchairs or electric scooters.
Two were injured when their wheelchair or scooter tipped over; two others were thrown from their wheelchairs.
BATA officials contend certain wheelchairs and electric scooters are difficult to secure, but said they are responding to the injuries with additional employee training and discussions with riders.
A Traverse City woman this month suffered a skull fracture when her wheelchair tipped over while traveling on a BATA bus and Record-Eagle coverage of the incident prompted another injured rider to tell her own story.
Martha Robinson, 85, said she fell over on her electric scooter while riding a BATA bus home from the doctor's office on Oct. 7.
"When he went around the curve too fast, my scooter went over and I was thrown up in the air and pounded my head three times," Robinson said.
An ambulance went to the scene, but Robinson did not immediately seek medical treatment.
"I went to the hospital eventually," Robinson said. "They put my head in a scanner and I have big contusions and I'm still suffering from them."
Don Scharmen, BATA's interim executive director, said he was unaware of Robinson's incident until a Record-Eagle reporter questioned him about it.
"I was gone. It was recorded, it just didn't get over to my desk since there wasn't an injury or claim," he said. "I'm going to find out and make sure that we have a process and make sure that I do see (incident reports) because it is important."
Electric scooters like Robinson's are difficult to secure, Scharmen said.
The bus driver asked Robinson if she could ride in a regular seat, but she declined, Scharmen said. The driver then attempted to secure the scooter as best he could, and planned to stop at the BATA transit center so a supervisor could find a better way to strap it down, he said.
But the bus didn't made it to the center before the scooter toppled and took Robinson with it.
Others injured
Another BATA rider, Shirley Harris, 61, said she's still sore from a bus accident.
Harris was thrown from her wheelchair while riding a bus in October. The bus driver hit the brakes to avoid an accident, and Harris fell face-first out of the chair.
The driver said he offered a shoulder strap, but Harris disagrees.
"I do not recall him offering me a strap, period," she said. "Several times since then I have asked for a strap and they didn't work."
Mandy Hoover, 28, was riding a BATA bus on Nov. 10 when the bus made a turn and Hoover's wheelchair fell over, crashing her to the floor. She suffered a fractured skull and sore shoulder.
Alice Skrzysinski, 61, was thrown from her wheelchair in November 2007 when a bus driver slammed on the brakes to avoid a collision. The wheelchair was fastened to the floor, but Skrzysinski wasn't strapped into the chair. She was badly bruised.
Skrzysinski said she wasn't aware of any shoulder or lap restraints. The bus driver told a Record-Eagle reporter after the accident that straps are available, but they're located behind the spot for wheelchairs and riders might not notice them.
Scharmen said he'll retrain each driver and identify riders who use wheelchairs and scooters that aren't easily secured to the bus. He plans to talk to special needs riders and determine the best way to keep them safe.
"We appreciate that these people want some mobility, but we need to make sure we do it the safest way," he said.
BATA legally can't refuse service to riders who use standard wheelchair devices that can't properly be restrained. Drivers also can't require riders to wear shoulder or lap belts, or make them move to a regular seat.
"If they fall out of the chair and they refuse the belt, that's the risk they take," Scharmen said. "We have (belts) and we offer them and we'll put them on."
'Nationwide problem'
Scharmen also plans to bring in a representative from Q'Straint, the company that supplies wheelchair restraint straps, to provide additional training.
Mary Sue Feldman of the Disability Network/Northern Michigan looked into the problems with wheelchairs on buses after hearing about the incidents. She's a public transportation advocate and regularly attends BATA meetings.
"It's a nationwide problem," she said. "We're advocating with manufacturers of wheelchairs to come up with a better design."
Wheelchairs like Hoover's don't have a sufficiently wide wheelbase, making them top-heavy, Feldman said.
Feldman said she's talked to BATA officials and bus drivers and believes they're properly strapping in wheelchairs.
"I think they are due-diligent; certainly the drivers are concerned about their riders," she said.
BATA isn't the only bus authority to have wheelchair accidents. One in Dearborn last month proved deadly.
Dearborn Heights resident Margaret Zeh, 81, died in October while riding a Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, or SMART, bus.
Zeh was thrown from her wheelchair and hit her head when the bus driver braked for another car, said Dearborn Police Sgt. Doug Topolski.
Her wheelchair was strapped to the bus, but available shoulder and lap restraints were not used, he said.
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