Review of safety and mobility issues among older pedestrians

Abstract

a b s t r a c tAlthough old people make up an extremely vulnerable road-user group, older pedestrians' difficulties have been studied less extensively than those of older drivers, and more knowledge of this issue is still required. The present paper reviews current knowledge of older-adult problems with the main components of pedestrian activity, i.e., walking and obstacle negotiation, wayfinding, and road crossing. Compared to younger ones, old pedestrians exhibit declining walking skills, with a walking speed decrease, less stable balance, less efficient wayfinding strategies, and a greater number of unsafe road crossing behaviors. These difficulties are linked to age-related changes in sensorial, cognitive, physical, and self-perception abilities. It is now known that visual impairment, physical frailty, and attention deficits have a major negative impact on older pedestrians' safety and mobility, whereas the roles of self-evaluation and self-regulation are still poorly understood. All these elements must be taken into consideration, not only in developing effective safety interventions targeting older pedestrians, but also in designing roads and cars. Recent initiatives are presented here and some recommendations are proposed.

Factors Preventing the Use of Alternative Transport Modes to the Car in Later Life

“…However, walking and cycling are not always easy activities for older people to undertake. Very little research has been carried out on walking and cycling in later life from the transportation point of view, especially in terms of barriers affecting the use of these two modes, since researchers have focused mainly on safety of older drivers [76]. Nonetheless, three main issues can be identified: health, safety and the built environment.…”

“…Unlike other transport modes (e.g., car) that can compensate for health impairments [20], walking and cycling can be more directly affected by health problems. In their review, Tournier, Dommes and Cavallo [76] identified health barriers affecting older pedestrians according to sensory, cognitive and physical impairments. Sensory impairments are associated with the risk of falling, reduced perception of fixed and moving objects, problems in detecting approaching vehicles and difficulties in distinguishing vehicles from other aspects of the road environment.…”

Illuminance required to detect a pavement obstacle of critical size

“…5 While walking is the most common physical activity of older people it exposes the walker to increased risk of accident and falling. 6 Reaction time decreases with age, and hence elderly people are less able to recover their balance in sufficient time after an accidental foot misplacement. Hospitalisation data from Australia (Figure 1) shows the elderly (465 years) are much more frequently injured due to a fall then younger people.…”

The Crossing Speed of Elderly Pedestrians

“…Compared to their younger counterparts, old pedestrians exhibit declining walking skills, with a walking speed decrease, less stable balance, less efficient wayfinding strategies, and a greater number of unsafe road crossing behaviours. These difficulties are linked to age-related changes in sensorial, cognitive, physical, and self-perception abilities [6].…”