SAFETY OF OLDER PEDESTRIANS

Walking is vital to the mobility of older road users for not only essential daily tasks but also social contacts and exercise. It follows that safe pedestrian travel also is an important factor in maintaining mobility for older road users. There is an urgent need to provide pedestrian-friendly road environments that are safe, convenient, and comfortable. This paper addresses the many issues associated with the safety of older pedestrians in five major sections. The first section provides an overview of the recent trends in pedestrian crashes, the causal factors related to pedestrian crashes, the types of crashes in which older pedestrians are involved, and the injury outcomes. The second section reviews pedestrian travel and crashes, the use of motorized wheelchairs, the involvement of alcohol, and seasonal effects on pedestrian travel and crash experience. Third, an examination of the associations among behavioral risk factors, crashes, and aging is provided. This section reviews the known risk factors for older pedestrians, with a focus on age-related changes in functional abilities that may increase the risk of collision. The fourth section identifies several factors that affect pedestrian crashes, including land use and road design, vehicle design, intelligent transportation systems, education, and enforcement. The section also provides suggestions for countermeasure development. The fifth section draws some conclusions on how to improve older-pedestrian safety through research and implementation.

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  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/conf/reports/cp_27.pdf
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

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• Authors:
  • Oxley, J
  • Fildes, B N
  • Dewar, R E
• Conference:
  • Transportation in an Aging Society: A Decade of Experience
  • Location: Bethesda Maryland, United States
  • Date: 1999-11-7 to 1999-11-9
• Publication Date: 2004

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 167-191
• Monograph Title: TRANSPORTATION IN AN AGING SOCIETY: A DECADE OF EXPERIENCE. TECHNICAL PAPERS AND REPORTS FROM A CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 7-9, 1999, BETHESDA, MARYLAND
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Board Conference Proceedings
  • Issue Number: 27
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 1073-1652

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Abilities; Aged; Alcohol use; Behavior; Countermeasures; Crash causes; Crash types; Education; Highway design; Implementation; Injuries; Intelligent transportation systems; Land use; Law enforcement; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Research; Risk analysis; Seasons; Trend (Statistics); Vehicle design; Walking
• Uncontrolled Terms: Motorized wheelchairs
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Research; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; Vehicles and Equipment; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00974950
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309077451
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jun 25 2004 12:00AM