Elderly Road Users: Drivers and Pedestrians

Simões, Anabela & Marin-Lamellet, Claude (2002). Elderly Road Users: Drivers and
Pedestrians. In Fuller, R. & Santos, J. (Eds.) Human Factors for the Highway Engineers.
PERGAMON, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, pp. 255-275

Contents

1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................1
2. OUTDOOR MOBILITY OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ELDERLY....................................2
3. AGEING AND FUNCTIONAL CAPACITIES................................................................3
4. TRAVELLERS WHO ARE ELDERLY...........................................................................5
4.1. DRIVERS WHO ARE ELDERLY.................................................................................5
4.1.1. Drivers who are elderly and accident involvement...................................................8
4.2. PEDESTRIANS WHO ARE ELDERLY......................................................................10
4.2.1. Pedestrians who are elderly and accident involvement...........................................11
5. TRAVEL NEEDS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ELDERLY..............................................12
5.1. ENVIRONMENT-RELATED TASKS WHILE DRIVING AND WALKING...........12
5.2. TRAVEL NEEDS OF DRIVERS WHO ARE ELDERLY...........................................13
5.3. TRAVEL NEEDS OF PEDESTRIANS WHO ARE ELDERLY.................................14
6. INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS AND ROAD SAFETY.......................................15
6.1. DRIVERS WHO ARE ELDERLY AND ADVANCED TRANSPORT
TECHNOLOGY...................................................................................................................16
6.2. COGNITIVE PLASTICITY ON THE OLDER AGE..................................................18
6.3. COGNITIVE TRAINING DRIVING CONTEXT-ORIENTED..................................19
7. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE ROAD ENVIRONMENT IMPROVEMENT...22
7.1. ENHANCING THE DRIVING CONTEXT.................................................................22
7.2. ENHANCING THE WALKING CONTEXT...............................................................23
8. CONCLUSIONS................................................................................................................24
References...............................................................................................................................25
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6.3 ELDERLY ROAD USERS: DRIVERS AND

PEDESTRIANS

Anabela Simões – Technical University of Lisbon (UTL/FMH), Ergonomics Department

Claude Marin-Lamellet – Laboratoire d’Ergonomie et Sciences Cognitives Appiquées aux
Transports (LESCOT), INRETS

Engineers and transport authorities rarely take into consideration the characteristics of people
who are elderly (drivers or pedestrian) on the road environment design. Therefore, the age-
related perceptual, cognitive and motor difficulties of these people lead them to avoid
complex traffic situations, as drivers, public transport travellers or pedestrians and even to
give up driving, which affects their own mobility. Based on the areas of difficulty that have
been found in people who are elderly while performing driving and walking tasks, their
special needs have been identified. These needs led the presentation of recommendations and
guidelines for the road environment design in order to ensure mobility and safety of drivers
and pedestrians who are elderly.

1. INTRODUCTION

Demographic evolution in most of the industrialised countries shows an inevitable increase of

the number of people who will be over 65, being called "the people who are elderly". For
example, perspective for the EU is about 80 millions of people who are elderly by the year
2020 (Marcellini et al, 1998) with 22 millions of them being between 65 and 79 years old and
22 million being over 80 years old (with two women for a man). In comparison to the
preceding generation, people who are elderly will be characterised by a higher level of
mobility and they will be very much concerned by all the modes of transport. Even if general
trends in medicine tend to give to the people who are elderly good health conditions, it will be
probable that increasing age will continue to be correlated to the appearance of disability
(Oxley, 1998). As the general population ages, the percentage of drivers who are elderly on
the road increases. At the same time, with the increasing trend toward sub-urbanisation,
people of all ages, and especially older people, are becoming more dependent on their
automobiles. In the more developed nations, where the use of private automobiles is more
widespread, an increase in the number of people who are elderly combined with a decreasing
proportion of younger members of society is more marked.
Engineers and transport authorities rarely take into consideration the characteristics of people
who are elderly (drivers or pedestrian) on the road environment design. Therefore, the age-
related perceptual, cognitive and motor difficulties of these people lead them to avoid
complex traffic situations, as drivers, public transport travellers or pedestrians and even to
 2

give up driving, which affects their own mobility. In a study with adults from 22 to 92 years,
Kline & al. (1992) found that older drivers change their driving habits in response to age-
related visual declines. In their study, all individuals under 64 years of age currently drove
and did so in both day and night conditions; all of the drivers who no longer drove at all, or
who no longer drove at night, were 64 or older. Some of them gave up driving invoking
reasons of their dislike of traffic or involvement in a traffic accident. Based on the travel
needs of people who are elderly, being pedestrians or drivers, this chapter aims to present
recommendations and guidelines for the road environment design in order to ensure their
mobility and safety.

2. OUTDOOR MOBILITY OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ELDERLY

Outdoor mobility is defined as the capacity to go outside home and move in the surrounding
environment and is considered as a prerequisite for successful ageing once freedom to move
means both physical and psychological health and well being. Mobility is essential to the
overall well being of people who are elderly, having a driving licence a special significance as
a symbol of freedom and independent life. A survey carried out by Brög et al. (1998) showed
that mobility behaviour patterns are closed connected to the end of active life. Having more
free time, retired people reduce their activity outside home and the use of the private car gives
way to other modes of transport, choosing the most environment-friendly modes, such as
walking and public transport. It is known that outdoor mobility is reduced as age increases,
mainly after the end of active life; however, this reduction is just partly age-related
(decreasing capacities, end of active life) once architectural barriers and unsuitable modes of
transport don’t incentive mobility. Actually, neither the road environment design takes into
account the characteristics of people who are elderly (as drivers or pedestrians) nor public
transport modes are enough accessible and user-friendly. Carrying out a survey on demand for
transport by people who are elderly, Marcellini et al. (1998) found that:
 people who are elderly consider outdoor mobility very important for their quality of life;
 the decrease of mobility with increasing age doesn’t depend on a decrease of desired
mobility or health problems, but mainly on barriers and hindrances in the environment and
in the transport system.
Two surveys on elderly mobility patterns (Marcellini et al., 1998; Brög et al., 1998) have
shown that walking is the way of transport the most used, particularly in middle-sized towns.
This is positive regarding the corresponding effects in terms of health once mobility,
particularly walking, results in less osteoporosis, less obesity, less constipation, fewer hip
fractures and less use of prescribed drugs (Waller, 1991), consequently in more well being,
health and safety. However, people who are elderly are more vulnerable than other age groups
so that they are more exposed to traffic risks when walking. Both safety and mobility of
people who are elderly allow us to understand the needs and capabilities of this age group and
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to develop road environment improvements that will enable older persons to continue to meet
their own transportation needs safely.

3. AGEING AND FUNCTIONAL CAPACITIES

The ageing process is the result of intrinsic and extrinsic factors conditioning some functional
changes in the organism. Epidemiological data show that these age-related changes occur at
different levels and rhythms leading to a high variability among people who are elderly.
According to Smith et al. (1993), ageing is a progressive and variable combination of
ontogenetic, historical and life events, which result in a great variability: behavioural and
psychological changes with age (within-subjects variability) and differences between subjects
(inter-individual variability). The first source of variability was the definition of this population,
which led to classifying the older population into classes of five or ten years, as young-old, old
and old-old. The within-person variability increases too with age, which means that the task
performance varies from time to time for the same individual. Another source of variability
refers to generation changes, so that today’s drivers who are elderly differ from those of 20 years
ago and those 20 years hence. These differences regard economic status, education, home
location and experience as new technologies’ users.
The main feature of ageing is the progressive slowness of behaviour, but the different systems
responsible for the humans’ relation life have the following manifestations:
 The neuromuscular system changes in ways that influence both cognitive and motor
behaviour as well as general well-being. The ability to perform continuous movements or
complex skills declines and coordination is disrupted; the control of posture and balance
degrades and a loss of motor control is evidenced as well (Vercruyssen, in Fisk & Rogers,
1997).
 Loss of muscle strength, endurance and tone, as well as a decrease of the ranges of joint
movements and reaching distances are the major responsible for the age-related motor
limitations (Vercruyssen, in Fisk & Rogers, 1997).
 Step length, step height and walking speed decrease with age and lead people who are elderly
to find difficulties in performing daily life tasks, such as pushing buttons, opening doors,
using stairs, travelling by public transport, etc. (Steenbekkers & Beijsterveldt, 1998).
 Age-related loss in the ability to detect, interpret and react to visual and auditory information
compromise the performance of a wide range of daily tasks. The response to illumination and
colour discrimination declines with age and sensitivity to glare increases as well as the time
to recovering from glare exposure (Olson, 1988). However, the increased time needed to
recognise the visual information seems to result mainly from the slower information
processing than from sensory loss (Stokes, 1992).
 Some memory loss and a decrease in ability to learn, particularly self-learning, are the main
cognitive age-related changes. However, while working memory processing and episodic
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memory decline with age, semantic memory and procedural memory remain quite stable.
Therefore, a successful learning will depend on the interplay of these systems (Howard Jr. &
Howard, in Fisk & Rogers, 1997). Moreover, some age-related difficulties in terms of
learning ability can be addressed by means of adding a memory aid, providing increased time
or more practice. Cognitive deficits can be compensated by means of appropriate strategies
based on previous knowledge and/or experience.
Major theoretical frameworks suggest that age decrements in cognition occur as a result of
limited mental energy or processing resources, age-related slowing or dysfunctional inhibitory
mechanisms. According to Craik and Byrd (1982), the hypothesis of limited processing
resources suggests that elderly adults show declines on cognitive tasks when compared to young
adults due to a diminished pool of mental energy that governs controlled or effortful cognitive
processes in working memory.
The second major theoretical is the hypothesis that age-related cognitive declines are a result
of a reduction in the information processing speed with advanced age. Cerella, Poon &
Williams (1980) suggested that, due to central slowing, age differences increase with the
cognitive task complexity, underlying the importance of timing aspects in situations requiring
speeded responses. Strategies for reducing the age-related differences, such as environmental
support interventions, to provide more time for processing events or information and training
activities enhancing speed are strongly recommended for older adults.
Regarding the third theoretical perspective, Hasher and Zacks (1988) suggested that, rather
than suffering from decreased processing resources, the older adults have inefficient
inhibitory mechanisms in working memory leading them to attend to irrelevant contextual
details and to have faulty interpretations of context. As a result, the content of working
memory is different for old compared to young adults, with the working memories of older
adults containing more irrelevant information which detracts from the processing of target
information. The failure to inhibit hypothesis has many implications for the environments
and information design for people who are elderly. Actually, it should be assumed that they
are highly distractible and easily captured by competing sources of information.
Although the ability ranges for people change as they move through the life span, an
appropriate personal adjustment to ageing can enable people who are elderly to benefit from
their experience and their accumulated wisdom. The ability to compensate functional losses
is often the key to live the later life as a period of continued usefulness, recreation and
productivity. That’s why some decreased performances at laboratory tests don’t correspond
to similar reduced daily tasks performances when compared to younger people. Based on the
limited resources account, the environmental support hypothesis suggests that age differences
decrease on cognitive tasks when encoding and retrieval support is provided, either in the
form of contextual cues or through a resource limiting encoding or retrieval operation.
Another way for improving some categories of cognitive behaviours in older adults is the
automatization of the components of complex behaviours in order to require fewer resources
to perform the behaviours or to remember the information (Plude and Hoyer, 1985).
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Moreover, the decrease of sensory performances is compensated by the ability provided by

experience to detect informal signs of dysfunction that are not detected by inexperienced
people. Actually, there is no direct relation between ageing and daily tasks performance if
previous knowledge and experience are mobilised. Moreover, factors leading to an age-
related disability result from environmental aspects that impose unappropriate conditions to
performe daily tasks.

4. TRAVELLERS WHO ARE ELDERLY

The age-related decrease of cognitive, sensory and motor abilities lead people who are
elderly to experience some difficulties in performing tasks related to driving and/or walking.
However, these difficulties could be reduced if the performing conditions could be improved
fitting the remaining capacities of this population. For this purpose, the related areas of
difficulty should be identified in order to inventory the needs of drivers and pedestrians who
are elderly.

4.1. DRIVERS WHO ARE ELDERLY

The emphasis on the elderly driver population could be linked to the statistical previsions
which show that it is likely that by 2021, 60-65 % of men and 40-50 % of woman over the 70
year-old age will have a driving license (Stewart & David 1996). With the ageing process,
most of the important abilities necessary for driving (vision, memory, attention, decision
making process) decline due to certain phenomena which have not bee fully explain up to
now (Marin-Lamellet 1994). As a consequence, the mobility of drivers who are elderly tends
to decrease and they develop some specific strategies to compensate their deficits.
Although there are well-recognised declines/changes in visual functioning with age, their
contribution to the problems of older people on tasks in the natural environment including
their driving is less known (Kline et al 1992). Wood (1993) tried to explain the elderly
driver's performance and accident characteristics by three kinds of visual impairments:
cataracts, visual field restriction and monocular vision. The authors simulated the visual
impairments on two groups of subjects i.e. young and elderly with normal corrected vision by
using goggles. The driving performance was assessed on a close road circuit free of other
vehicles. The results indicated that cataracts resulted in the greatest decrease in driving
followed by visual field restriction, even through all drivers satisfied the visual requirement
for driving. The decrease recorded with visual impairments on the driving performance was
greater for the old subjects. This kind of approach is limited to visual aspects and more and
more often, research works take also into account cognitive and psycho-sociological factors.
As an example, Baldwin et al (1995) tried to assess the age difference in the mental workload
 6

in a driving simulator environment with the use of a subsidiary mental arithmetic task. The
results indicated that as steering task difficulty was increased, verbal response latency to
concurrent mental arithmetic task increased more for the older subjects than for the younger.
Moreover, the authors stated that the secondary mental arithmetic task did not interfere in the
steering performance. This seemed to indicate that older subjects kept their priority to the
driving task when they had to deal with another concurrent task.
Some other work related to the spatial localisation in a lane choice simulating the driving task
showed that uncertainty concerning the location of relevant information slowed decision-
making speed proportionally more for the older subjects than for the young ones involved in
this study (Ranney et all 1992).
An interesting approach was conducted by Tararnek et all (1993), McCoy et all (1993). These
authors tried to find cross correlation between driving performance and factors related to
vision, visual perception, cognition, range of motion and self-driving knowledge. The
assessment route was designed to evaluate the subjects in the situations that are most often
involved in accidents of older drivers i.e. left turn and right angle collision at controlled
intersections in urban areas. The assessment of the driving performance has been made using
subjective rating by an instructor (in terms of search pattern, control of the vehicle’s speed
and direction). Visual capacities have been assessed using far and near acuity, depth
perception, peripheral vision, colour vision, phoria. Concerning visual perception, assessment
criteria were spatial relationships between subject and space, visual discrimination, figure
ground test visual closure (the identification of incomplete figures) and visual memory.
Cognition has been assessed using three tests: the mini mental state, the trail making test part
A and B; brake reaction time was also assessed on a simulator. Range of motion has been
evaluated by means of using different kind of movement (head, neck rotation) related to the
driving task; at the end, a questionnaire has been used to assess the self driving knowledge.
The analysis performed (both simple correlation and multiple regression analysis) showed
that among vision factors, depth perception and peripheral vision (right field) expressed
statistically significant correlation with the driving performance of the elderly subjects.
Visual perception seemed also to have a greater impact on driving performance, having some
older subjects good vision but a lack of ability to use it effectively.
Concerning the cognition aspect, it appeared that language skill, orientation, memory,
attention and the ability to follow verbal instructions were most highly correlated with
driving performance. The range of motion factors did not appear to be correlated with the
driving performance of subjects and the authors explained that point by the fact that, in their
driving situation, the traffic was low, inducing few lane-change, passing collision avoidance
manoeuvres.
These results have been used to design counter measures to address the problems of older
drivers, such as:
 physical therapy (home based exercise design to improve posture, trunk rotation, neck
and shoulder flexibility),
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 perceptual therapy (home based exercises 20 min four times per week for 8 weeks),
 driver education (AAA safe driving for mature operator programme)
 traffic engineering improvements (limited to signs, pavement markings and traffic signal
displays).
The same subjects have driven on the same route to test the effects of the above-referred
counter measures on the driving performance which have been given by the difference
between the two scores obtained (without and with the counter measures). The results
obtained indicated that the combination of perceptual therapy and driver education provided
the greatest improvement followed by the combinations of traffic engineering improvements
with driving education and either physical or perceptual therapy. However, the differences
observed were not statistically significant. The authors concluded that this new approach is
promising and should be more extended with using a different sample of older drivers (more
representative of the older population) and deeper traffic engineering improvements.
Self-decision to stop driving has been found to be related to sex and health status of the
drivers (Hakamies-Blomkvist & Wahlström 1998). Actually, men who are elderly tend to
find more necessary to drive and stop later than women and men who stopped driving by
themselves are in less good health than those who decided to continue driving.
Problems encountered by drivers who are elderly in making rapidly and safely the turn
manoeuvre could be based on the fact that they are quite insensible to the speed of the
oncoming vehicle, then they could base their judgement on the acceptance of the gap only
with distances' cues. They always could tend to adopt the same distance gap, what ether the
situation could be (Staplin 1995).
Drivers who are elderly could have difficulties in negotiating intersections due to a decrease
in their working memory abilities. The complexity of the intersection could results in an
overload of the drivers and as a consequence, decision-making process could be done with a
too high-risk level. To reduce this, it is suggested providing drivers with cues that could be
used by drivers to better prepare their action (Guerrier et al. 1999)
Among drivers who are elderly we may find different durations of driving experience and
different attitudes towards driving risks. Actually, drivers who are elderly present the greatest
variability of any age group, in terms of performance in various measures of cognition, vision
and response time. On the other hand, different age groups have different physiological and
cognitive capacities. The age-related perceptual and cognitive difficulties of people who are
elderly lead to changes in their driving habits and often to giving up driving, which affects
their own mobility. Knowing their own difficulties, drivers who are elderly compensate their
failures by using their remaining abilities in a deeper way. Actually, the generalised
behaviour of older drivers is known, regarding their perceptive and cognitive difficulties, as
well as their compensatory attitudes, leading them to avoid complicated traffic conditions and
driving at reduced speeds.
Considering that some visual variables with greater implications to driving suffer an
important deterioration, and knowing the greater variability of the relation between the
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chronological and functional age, sooner or later elderly drivers will be faced with an
increase in the level of accidents risks, due to their difficulties in the perception and
information processing of road signs in an useful time.

4.1.1. Drivers who are elderly and accident involvement

The Transportation Research Board has found that people who are elderly represent the most
rapidly growing segment of the driving population, in a total number of drivers who have
licence, number of miles driven annually per driver and proportion of the driving population.
In addition, after the age of 55, adults begin to have more traffic convictions and accidents
per miles driven than any other adult age group. Based on the use of mileage as a measure of
exposure to risk, drivers who are elderly are commonly accepted to have higher accident
rates than middle-aged drivers.
The statistical accident analysis show that drivers who are elderly experienced more crashes
at intersections, their vehicle being more hit than hitting. The accidents involving these
drivers are to some extent specific to many crashes during merging in traffic, turning across
traffic and refusal of right of way priority. In right handed driving countries, left turn is
particularly difficult and data indicated that drivers who are elderly at fault were hit by a
vehicle coming from the right in 59% of the cases and by a vehicle coming from the left in
41% of the cases. Observations made in Japan (a left handed driving country) on different
simple intersections did not showed differences in attention allocated (visual behaviour) to on
coming traffic by drivers who are elderly in comparison to other drivers. However, it was
shown that they need more time to complete the turning manoeuvre allowing predicting
potential conflict between drivers who are elderly crossing and young "rapid" drivers coming
(Keskinenet al 1998).
Problems encountered by drivers who are elderly in making rapidly and safely the turn
manoeuvre could be based on the fact that they are quite insensible to the speed of the
oncoming vehicle, then they could base their judgement on the acceptance of the gap only
with distances' cues. They always could tend to adopt the same distance gap, what ether the
situation could be (Staplin 1995).
Drivers who are elderly could have difficulties in negotiating intersections due to a decrease
in their working memory abilities. The complexity of the intersection could results in an
overload of the drivers and as a consequence, decision-making process could be done with a
too high-risk level. To reduce this, it is suggested providing drivers with cues that could be
used by drivers to better prepare their action (Guerrier et al. 1999).
It has been reported that a high percentage of accidents involving drivers who are elderly
occur at intersections. In a study conducted by GARBER (1991), it was found that an
increase in the percentage of left-turn volume at an intersection increases the involvement
ratio for the drivers who are elderly and an increase in amber time for a given speed limit
reduces the involvement ratio for the elderly, which is more dependent on the AADT (annual
 9

average daily traffic) than on the peak hours compared to other groups. Another study
reported by GARBER (1991a) allowed for the following conclusions:
 Involvement ratios for the elderly (65 and over) are significantly higher than those for
other age groups;
 Involvement ratios for the elderly at intersections outside cities are higher than for
intersections within cities;
 When drivers who are elderly are involved in a crash, it is more likely that they have
committed a traffic violation and this likelihood increases with age;
 The probability of the elderly committing a traffic violation at an intersection is much
higher than for other age groups;
 The elderly have a higher potential for committing a traffic violation during a turning
manoeuvre, particularly when making left-turns;
 The predominant traffic violation of the elderly is failure to yield right-of-way;
 The elderly are more likely to commit a traffic violation at intersections controlled by
stop signs than at any other type of traffic control;
 The provision of specific countermeasures that will aid the elderly in making turning
movements, particularly left-turns, will have a significant impact on their crash
involvement.
In most of the industrialised countries, accidents rate per age groups shows a U shape curve
which is higher at the level of the young age group, then decrease and increase again at the
level of the age groups over 60 in a way which more or less slightly depending on the country
and of the data. Furthermore, this increase is confirmed if the accident rates are matched with
driving distances, which tend to decrease with age. When involved in accidents, drivers who
are elderly are more often considered as responsible (Fontaine & Gourlet 1992). Fatalities
rate from driving accident must also take into account the greater fragility of the people who
are elderly.
Driving accident patterns of drivers who are elderly are well documented and differed
significantly from those of younger drivers. Thus, drivers who are elderly are rarely involved
in speed violations or alcohol driving. Their main areas of accidents are the intersections and
more generally complex traffic conditions. Vehicles of these drivers are more often hit than
hitting. These accidents occurred less in night-time conditions, which also reflect that drivers
who are elderly avoid driving at night due visual disturbance. It seems to be quite accepted
by the scientific community now that most of the significant difficulties encountered by
drivers who are elderly when driving appeared after the age of 70. Of course the health status
of the people is likely to make this age indication move up or down. Considering the sex
factor, women drivers who are elderly were considered as having more accidents rate than
men and as stopping to drive earlier, but it is expected that such observations will change
with next generations as women will practice driving as much as men (Hakamies-Blomkvist
1998).
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4.2. PEDESTRIANS WHO ARE ELDERLY

Due to the age-related biological changes that affect movement, such as decreases in muscle
mass, bone density, number of nerve cells, strength and energy, older people have to walk
slowly and sometimes using a cane. Pedestrians who are elderly usually present a reduced
speed of walk, which is adopted to compensate for changes in visual and balance abilities as
well as a reduction of the lower limb's strength available. The length of stride is generally
reduced and pedestrians who are elderly find it difficult to adopt a steady rhythm of walk
(Patchay et al, 1998). The reduction of the speed of walk seems to be adopted spontaneously,
allowing pedestrians who are elderly to better face to unexpected environmental events
(Ferrandez 1989). For similar reasons, people who are elderly find standing uncomfortable
and tiring. A reduction in the average number of long walks will be observed in the younger
population of people who are elderly. This will be due to the increase of the use of private
cars (Oxley 1998). In a recent survey, it was shown that after 70 years old, a quarter of the
men interrogated and 40% of the women experiment difficulties in walking (Hjorthol &
Sagberg 1998).
In terms of classification of pedestrians who are elderly problems three levels can be
identified (Packham & Silcock 1998) :
 considering near-side only: due to the cognitive workload, pedestrians who are elderly
could have problems in processing all the relevant information at the same time; they
should then check first one side of the road and the second once they are arrived at the
middle of the road. Such a strategy is very time consuming and could often lead to the
situation that the pedestrian will be only at the middle of the road when the traffic will re-
start from traffic light
 following other pedestrians with a reduction of the level of awareness
 confusion at junctions: at complex junctions with cadenced traffic light, pedestrians who
are elderly could have difficulties understanding the logic of the crossing then they can
decide to cross at another point (not protected) or to follow other pedestrians without
check if it is safe or not, or try to cross when they think they are allowed to do, but
inappropriately in fact.
Pedestrians who are elderly have also the higher tendency to take the shortest way and they
will not systematically use the pedestrian crossing. It seems that some pedestrians who are
elderly have difficulties in seeing the crosswalk signals from the opposite side of the street.
Most of them avoid rush hours, dusk and night for crossing. Even if it seems that they have
enough time to cross the street with walking signals, they felt quite anxious and increase their
walking speed as much as they can. But doing this, they also increase the risk of falling
(Bailey et al). Sometimes a lack of knowledge of the meaning of flashing crossroads is also
observed; pedestrians who are elderly tend to go back instead of continuing to cross (Bailey
et al). It seems also that the driving experience can increase the pedestrian’s "road sense"
(Packham & Silcock 1998, Nagayama & Yasuda 1996).
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4.2.1. Pedestrians who are elderly and accident involvement

Pedestrians who are elderly are less involved in pedestrian-vehicles crashes than other groups
and particularly the children, but when they are involved in a crash they are more likely to be
killed (Zegeer, 1993). That’s why the rate of fatal accidents of pedestrians is higher in the
population of people who are elderly than in the other groups of population (Marcellini et col
1998). Most of statistical data show an increase in the fatalities after the 75 year-old age
(Zegeer 1993). Several surveys reported the feeling of unsatisfactory safety for pedestrians
who are elderly.
Crashes involving pedestrians who are elderly can be explained by different factors such as:
 the influence of glare which can prevent these pedestrian in reading the crossing signals,
 the difficulties in extracting relevant noise from the street which will result in lower
detection of oncoming traffic, especially in the back,
 the general slowing of behaviour which could lead them to a long decision time before
crossing or difficulties in setting up the crossing strategy (Bailey et col).
When studying accidents of pedestrians who are elderly, it appeares that conflicts occur
mainly with cars (59%) followed by bike-motor bikes- scooters. (28%), commercial vehicles
(8%), public transport vehicles (3%) and lorries (2%) (Pibault 1997). On a city like Paris in
France, causes of the 566 accidents registered in 1996 were:
 the pedestrian did not respect the crossing rules;
 crossing out of time (with traffic lights);
 violation of the pedestrian right of way by the drivers;
 manoeuvres of vehicles (U turn);
 violation of red light by the drivers;
 various reasons (alcohol, speed, etc.)
In USA, Zegeer (1993) indicate that the main sources of crashes with pedestrians who are
elderly involved turning and backing vehicles. Some surveys showed that 49% of the crashes
involving pedestrians who are elderly occurred in an urban setting not necessary at an
intersection but at any other place between intersection such as mid blocks. Due to their
decrease in walking capacities, pedestrians who are elderly tend not to go to the intersection
crossing, even if most of the time it is a protected intersection with crossing signs. This is due
to the fact that the protected crossing is too far, or it is too complex to set up the crossing
strategy (Baltes 1998). Bowman referred to a study in Sweden were pedestrians who are
elderly have been asked to cross a street at fast, very fast and normal speed. The results
indicated that 90% of the subjects crossed the street at a speed lower than 1.2 m/sec, some of
them crossing at a speed lower than 0.7 m/sec. In terms of reference, some official document
for traffic engineering recommended to take a speed of 1.2 m/sec as the minimum basis.
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5. TRAVEL NEEDS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ELDERLY

Travel needs depend on the road user’s goals and limitations to move around. Being the reach
of destination the primary goal, it requires some conditions, particularly safety and comfort,
which are the secondary goals. Matching these goals with the functional characteristics
(motion, sensorial, psychological and communication limitations), travel needs of a particular
group will be easily identified. In this case, the identification of the travel needs of people
who are elderly is based on their difficulties in performing a set of tasks related to driving
and/or walking. Considering the purpose of this book, the environment-related tasks are the
relevant ones to identify the needs of the concerned population to reach their destination
safely.

5.1. ENVIRONMENT-RELATED TASKS WHILE DRIVING AND WALKING

The difficulties of drivers who are elderly in performing some strategical and tactical tasks
allow for the identification of their needs to keep driving and fit their mobility requests
safely. Considering the purpose of this book, the environment-related tasks are the relevant
ones to identify the travel needs of the concerned population in order to propose
recommendations for the improvement of the roadway environment. This means that the
identified needs should be reported to each environment-related sub-tasks and the
corresponding areas fo difficulty as following:
1. The vehicle control involving the following sub-tasks with referrence to the
corresponding areas of difficulty:
 The road-related tasks - Intersections (road crossings, T junctions, roundabouts),
narrow or sharp curves, driving onto-off motorways, road works, railroad crossing,
driving on flyovers, bridges, and tunnels.
 The traffic-related tasks - Car-following, overtaking, entering and leaving traffic, lane
changing, reading road signs.
 The roadside service - Contacting breakdown service, changing wheel.
2. The trip information is particularly required to:
 Determine whereabouts – people who are elderly may have some difficulties in
hearing and understanding announcements, identifying visual displays, detecting
arrival point, reading maps.
 Changes in regular travel schedule - getting information on route changes, changing
route (road works, traffic jams) constitute areas of difficulty for the concerned
population.
3. The environmental conditions – dealing with particular environmental conditions such as:
 13

 Weather imposing sometimes (rain, fog, snow) increased difficulties to see, read,
understand signs and audible information in degraded visual and sound conditions.
 Night driving imposing increased difficulties resulting from visual deficits and more
sensitivity to glare as well the need for more time to recover.
4. Parking – the identification of parking areas and the payment systems, as well as the
corresponding manoeuvres, represent areas of difficulty for drivers who are elderly.
Regarding pedestrians who are elderly, their travel needs are identified on the basis of their
difficulties in walking resulting from a considerable decrease of their physical and sensorial
abilities, as well as the unsuitable walking conditions. Moreover, older people are more
vulnerable and, usually, they feel unsafe when crossing a street even with traffic lights.
Therefore, the following areas of difficulty have been identified in relation to the
performance of some specific tasks involving walking:
 Street crossing, imposing increased difficulties at not protected street crossings, as well as
at protected street crossing (traffic lights) at roads or large and busy streets.
 Pedestrian areas, where irregular pavements, difference in levels, stairs (steps length and
high, total distance by stairs), ramps (straight or in curve), barriers (parked cars, objects
on street), string bean, escalators can represent increased difficulties to the concerned
population.
 Access to parking areas, particularly underground or silos parking having unsafe access
for pedestrians.
The use of public transports impose some difficulties related to the infrastructure, such as the
walking distances and the access to the vehicles, having been identified the following areas
of difficulty:
 Bus and tram stops, as well as metro and railway stations make sometimes the access to
vehicles very difficult to people who are elderly, resulting from large gaps, high steps and
inadequate ramps.
 Intermodal trips impose mode transfers where the walking distances can be excessive for
the concerned population; moreover, string beans and escalators can impose increased
difficulties as well if the corresponding speed are not suitable.

5.2. TRAVEL NEEDS OF DRIVERS WHO ARE ELDERLY

Resulting from the age-related decreasing abilities of drivers who are elderly and the existing
conditions to perform the environment-related tasks, the corresponding areas of difficulty
have been identified in order to define their requirements to drive safely. Taking into account
their remaining capacities, as well as the perceived complexity of the driving situations and
their compensatory strategies, the following requirements have been defined:
1. Regarding intersections (road crossings, T junctions, roundabouts) drivers who are
elderly require:
 14

 Controlled intersections (traffic lights),

 Adequate road side information,
 Road way design easing the task.
2. Regarding driving onto-off motorways, drivers who are elderly require:
 In due time information with adequate size,
 A road design allowing to increase the distance to get onto the traffic lane,
 Separated slip roads to drive onto/off the motorway in order to avoid conflicting
traffic situations.
3. Regarding road works, drivers who are elderly require in due time and clear roadside
information.
4. Railway crossings should be avoid and replaced by flyovers; once they impose increased
stress to drivers who are elderly that can lead to incidental or accidental situations; at the
existing railway crossings, clear and in due time warnings are required.
5. When following a car, taking over, entering and leaving traffic, lane changing, as well as
driving on flyovers, bridges and tunnels, drivers who are elderly require:
 Good visibility,
 Clear information (road sign, one/two flows signs and pavement markings).
6. When contacting breakdown service or changing a wheel, people who are elderly require
increased safety conditions to accomplish these tasks.

5.3. TRAVEL NEEDS OF PEDESTRIANS WHO ARE ELDERLY

As a consequence of the age-related sensory, cognitive and motor decreasing abilities, as well
as their vulnerability, the identified difficulties of pedestrians who are elderly in meeting their
outdoor mobility needs allow to define the following requirements for the environment
improvement:
1. Regarding street crossings, pedestrians who are elderly require:
 Protected street crossings,
 Frequent protected street crossings,
 Enough crossing time allocated to cross safely
2. Regarding pedestrian areas, pedestrians who are elderly require:
 Regular pavements,
 Reduced difference in levels (side walks),
 Absence of barriers,
 Ramps provided of handrails, particularly in curves,
 Lifts instead of stairs,
 Adequate length and high of steps
 15

3. Pedestrians who are elderly require good accessibility and safety at underground parkings
and silos.
4. Regarding the use of public transport, people who are elderly require:
 Reduced gaps in bus/trams stops and metro/railway stations,
 Lifts instead of stairs and escalators,
 Adequate length and high of steps when existing,
 Reduced walking distances,
 Adequate speed and design of escalators and string beans

6. INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS AND ROAD SAFETY

In order to make appropriate decisions, the driver needs information from the vehicle and the
road environment. The driver information requirements are defined through the identification
of the information needed by drivers to perform the task safely and efficiently and the
assessment of the existing information system in terms of satisfying these information needs.
The three levels of the driving task - navigation, manoeuvring and control - should be
considered to identify the driver information needs. Thus, information should be provided to
comply with these needs and its features should take into account the special needs of drivers
who are elderly. These special needs mainly concern the information on “where he or she is”,
“how far he or she is from the next decision point” and “what he or she has to do there” (turn
left/right or go on). The time of presenting the information, its repetition and aids for
decisions in more complex situations should be fitted to the elderly’s memory, attention,
response times and spatial representation deficits.
Ergonomic design begins by defining and describing the user population and their needs.
Therefore, the design for all users must consider the special needs of elderly and disabled
people, as they may be more sensitive to design flaws. Rothengatter et al. (1993) reported
that driver’s errors result from (1) insufficient information to select the appropriate action, (2)
ambiguous information that leads to conflicting actions and (3) surplus information that does
not lead to any action. Other studies report that icons are better than text for displaying
messages, but the symbols should be easily identified and unambiguous (Easterby & Zwaga,
1978; Green, 1993). However, the age effect in recognising and understanding symbols,
particularly related to generation reasons, has been largely demonstrated (Zwaga & Boersma,
1983; Saunby et al., 1988; Dewar et al., 1994; Laux & Mayer, 1991; in Bruyas, 1997). That’s
why a good design could not be enough for ensuring a user-friendly system.
The two primary Ergonomic approaches to the systems’ design consist in adapting the system
and/or the environment to fit the user’s needs according to criteria of safety, efficiency and
comfort (1) and modifying the user to interact easily and safely with the system by means of
training activities (2). Both approaches are important to provide maximal benefit to the users,
in terms of adequate human-machine interfaces (HMI), as well as training methods and
 16

techniques. The enormous variability among people who are elderly is the major difficulty in
the design process for all users.
The decline in the sensory and psychomotor capacities of the elderly is reflected on difficulty
in discriminating the relevant information and in the need of more time to process it. ATT
systems can be of great help in driving but they are bringing about important changes to the
driving task and the road environment. If we still take into account that drivers who are
elderly are not familiar with the modern information technologies and have difficulties in self
learning, we can easily understand that using ATT systems can be a factor for increasing the
driving task’s complexity. These systems provide relevant information for travellers, either
drivers or public transport users, aiming to improve safety, efficiency, economy and
environment of all modes of transport. In-vehicle systems, such as, route guidance, collision
avoidance, reversing aid and emergency alert systems, as well dynamic information systems
(VMS) are factors of important changes in the driving task and road environment. If on one
hand several researches have provided general and specific design guidelines regarding
drivers who are elderly, on the other hand, the training issues are not being considered as a
way of allowing for safe, easy and effective human machine interactions.

6.1. DRIVERS WHO ARE ELDERLY AND ADVANCED TRANSPORT

TECHNOLOGY

Information technologies are more and more present in de transport domain either inside
vehicles or at the urban/interurban road environment. The new trends in driving aids
technologies could be a good opportunity for drivers who are elderly, so that they can
continue to drive without restrictions. However, there are very few data available regarding
their needs related to on-board telematic services, the behaviour of these drivers when using
an on-board telematic service and also the benefits that drivers who are elderly could draw
from these telematic services. The EDDIT1 Project tried to bridge this gap and conducted
many tests in Europe involving almost 400 drivers over 60 years old. These tests have been
carried out on public roads, having some of them been conducted on very early prototype
driving simulators or private roads.
Route guidance systems
Driving in an unfamiliar place, along unknown roads mean for the drivers to find information
to be able to take the right way. This activity is very attention demanding and drivers who are
elderly experience difficulties in doing it while driving. This is why they prefer familiar roads
and avoid unfamiliar areas. From the work conducted by the EDDIT project with four route
guidance systems under real road traffic conditions it can be said that:
1
The partners involved in this project were Cranfield University, Transport Research Laboratory, GEC Marconi
Avionics, Ford-UK, INRETS, Renault, Lund Institute of Technology, Volvo and Technical University of
Lisbon.
 17

 Drivers who are elderly found the technological aid useful for them and said that they
could go out more often in unfamiliar places more easily.
 Hazardous situations were observed in complex junctions with difficulties to understand
the information presented
 The effect on the driving activity appeared to be limited mostly because no handling of
the system was necessary when driving (programming the destination was made when the
car was stopped). Observations made with another kind of driving aid (road traffic
information system) showed that handling a system with a keyboard while driving is a
very dangerous task for drivers who are elderly.
 Most of the drivers were obliged to increase their level of concentration but small
distraction were generated by the systems
 Vocal instructions have been particularly appreciated by the drivers who are elderly.
In the context of the guidance driving aid, the EDDIT project carried out also some generic
work in a driving simulator context. The presentation of guidance instructions with a Head
Up Display versus on a dashboard display was explored, as well as the interaction between
age and the size and the complexity of guidance symbols (Marin-Lamellet et col 1994,
Marin-Lamellet et col 1995).
The results obtained have showed that the Head up Display improved the reaction time of the
subjects who were elderly in the simulator context and that the audible cues were particularly
useful for them. Furthermore, the results confirmed that people who are elderly take in and
process complex visual information in a less efficient way than young adults, but also that the
difficulties encountered were increased by the complexity of the driving task.
Reversing aid systems
Drivers who are elderly experience increasing difficulties during reversing manoeuvres. This
is due to reduced physical suppleness with age, restricting neck and torso movements, but
also to reduced lateral field of vision. Consequently, elderly drivers usually need more space
to park their car, and they have a higher accident rate than other drivers when parking.
Trials done by the EDDIT project showed that such systems were useful and easy to use by
most of the subjects. Some difficulties were encountered during the first trials as it appeared
necessary to obtain familiarity with the system’ distance indications. The first system
presenting a more complex display than the second seemed to require more attention from the
driver.
Night vision enhancement system
For most of the elderly drivers, driving at night is very difficult due to the reduction of visual
acuity with age. Relevant objects when driving (pedestrians, road panels, roadwork signs, and
landmarks) cannot be seen clearly in darkness; older drivers are also particularly sensitive to
glare. The EDDIT project tested a system with infrared technology; it has a camera mounted
at the top of the windscreen; the image obtained is projected as a head-up display. The
assessment was carried out on a restricted track. The subject’s task was to detect various
 18

objects situated around the road, i.e. pedestrians, dummies, road signs, while driving the car
once with the system off and once with the system on.
The results indicated substantial improvement in the distances at which drivers were able to
detect pedestrians and certain road features. The subjects found the system easy to use and
the Head-up Display easy to read. It should be stated that the trials were not carried out on a
winding road or in heavy traffic. More work is probably need on this issue.
Collision avoidance (T-junctions and turns across traffic)
The reports of accident characteristics of elderly drivers showed that they have a high
accident rate at junctions, and when the driver has to turn across traffic from a major road
into a minor road or to turn out of a minor road into a major road.
With this in mind, the EDDIT project developed and assessed a prototype of a decision aid
system, which can be used in this context. The interface for the driver was in the form of a
green (safe gap) or red (unsafe gap) light. Considering the early stage of design of the
prototype system and the potential risk of the situation, it was decided to conduct the
evaluation on a driving simulator.
The results showed that such a system reduced the number of unsafe gaps accepted by the
drivers; however, it should be stated that for some subjects their definition of a safe gap was
not the same as that of the system, which produced potentially dangerous situations.
Consequently further development should to adapt the system to the performance of the
individual rather than be set at a notional safe time. Most of the subjects who participated
found the system useful, easy to use, and thought that it could modify their driving habits.
Other advanced transport technologies are under development such as Intelligent Cruise
Control, a device that automatically regulates speed and distance between vehicles in a
highway context. It is questionable however on the use of such device by drivers who are
elderly as it could lead them to a high decrease in attention level.
Another concept of advanced transport technologies that could be potentially useful for
drivers who are elderly concern the emergency aid. In the framework of the EDDIT project, a
concept of an emergency alert system was assessed by drivers who were elderly and received
very good feed back. More complicated systems were developed in other projects and
particularly by the EC Save project. The concept was then to be able for the system to detect
a problem at the driver level (drowsiness or heart stroke for example) and to manage safely
the car. Such kind of advanced technology is highly safety critical and will need further
development before being put on the market sale.

6.2. COGNITIVE PLASTICITY ON THE OLDER AGE

Due to a generation effect, people who are elderly are not used to advanced technology,
which lead them to avoid and even reject new technological systems. Due to this attitude
some learning difficulties of older people have been reported (Howard & Howard, in Fisk &
 19

Rogers, 1996). Actually, learning performance and learning aptitude decline with age,
particularly when the information presented increases in complexity or when the speed of
that presentation is beyond the control of the subject. According to Stokes (1992), some
handicaps of people who are elderly are more related to the associated effects of the ageing
process and the understimulation than to the loss of intellectual capacity. Therefore, they can
get important benefits from formal or informal education.
According to Park (1992), a training intervention is one of the solutions for reducing the
cognitive demands and improving the cognitive performance of older adults, being the other
ones restructuring the cognitive information and molar changes in the environment.
However, all these solutions must be taken into account together in order to design training
programmes compatible with the cognitive changes related to the ageing process and be
based on a cognitive ageing framework to solve real-world problems for people who are
elderly.
Van Zoomeren (1987) proposed a theoretical framework of attention, and defined it as a
cognitive state with two interdependent dimensions: selectivity, which refers to the limited
information processing resources, and intensity, which is the dimension of alertness. The age
differences in the domain of selectivity, particularly those concerning divided attention,
likely contribute to the age decrements in a broad spectrum of cognitive activities, including
learning, memory and problem solving. That’s why an emphasis has been given to the
selective aspect of attention in the cognitive ageing research. Many brain-injured people, as a
result of a frontal lobe damage, have attentional deficits that might cause problems in
complex learning tasks. The empirical data show that people with attention impairments have
difficulties on selecting the relevant information, particularly when a lot of information is
presented at a high rate. Even when all information is relevant, their limited resources lead to
errors and omissions. Moreover, different studies refer the proportional increase in age
decrement under increasing task complexity. Considering that the automatic processing
doesn’t demand significant attention resources and is either based on inborn mechanisms or it
is the result of learning, the training for elderly people should integrate an effective learning
of daily living activities, particularly those concerning mobility: the use of public transports
and car driving. At the same time, the training should develop the ability for anticipating
events in order to manage the use of the limited processing resources and avoid too much
information processing simultaneously.

6.3. COGNITIVE TRAINING DRIVING CONTEXT-ORIENTED

Willis (1990) states that the most important result of the cognitive training research is the
plasticity of the adulthood cognitive functioning. Numerous studies have reported significant
improvements in the performances of adults over 60 years old by means of behavioural
interventions, as well as the possibility of resolving the decline of the healthy elderly
 20

people’s cognitive performance by means of cognitive training. According to Park (1992),

cognitive training, as well as interventions at the environment level, can reduce the cognitive
demands and improve the cognitive performance. Baltes et al. (1986) noted that although the
fluid intelligence abilities do decline with age, there is a certain amount of cognitive energy
or capacity held in reserve by both young and elderly adults. With optimal training or under
suitable conditions, this reserve capacity can be expressed as plasticity and used, increasing
the cognitive performance above some observed baseline levels. The concept of reserve
capacity is the focus of cognitive training research in terms of how to restore the reserve
capacities to elicit the desired intra-individual changes in cognitive behaviours. The finding
that individual behaviour can be modified significantly in the elderly through cognitive
training has been used to demonstrate the existence of a reserve capacity. In this context, the
usefulness of a cognitive training and its relevance become more evident regarding the
cognitive difficulties of elderly people when using new systems, as well as their acceptance
to change and adaptation to these systems.
Drivers who are elderly should be encouraged to up-date their driving-related knowledge by
means of specific training programmes. Actually, training could constitute a way of allowing
people who are elderly to keep driving safely and be aware of their own limits. Cognitive
training activities can provide a cognitive stimulation whose effects in slowing down the
decreasing of capacities related to the ageing process have been evidenced on the EDDIT
project training experiment. Cognitive training should be considered to prepare people to deal
with complex tasks in complex environments. Therefore, a driving context-oriented training
programme should be no more centred on skill and rule-based activities, but it should be
extented to knowledge-based ones. According to Dreyfus & Dreyfus (in Olsen & Rasmussen,
1989), this means that the know-how is no more enough and training should go through the
know-that. Trying to anticipate ATT Systems avoidance and individual related difficulties, as
well as making these systems easier to use will surely be factors of success in the
implementation of the telematics applications to transports.
Considering the increasing number of elderly drivers and their own characteristics, any
training programme context-oriented should integrate, previously, activities to improve their
perceptive and cognitive performances, as well as their learning potential. According to the
results of the training programme applied in the EDDIT project, this kind of cognitive
stimulation should constitute a common core preceding the specific training, because the
elderly being understimulated due to their professional retired life, any training activity
should consider a previous stimulation of their cognitive functions.
Considering the changes in the driving task related to the use of these systems and its
increasing complexity, the training programme should focus on the set of performances
required to drive a vehicle equipped with ATT systems and integrate activities at each one of
the levels of the driving task:
1. Regarding the strategic level, (navigation) it should integrate knowledge-based activities
allowing for:
 21

 a more rapid and effective understanding of the displayed messages;

 the development of the senses of direction and distance;
 the development of a spatial knowledge representation (cognitive maps);
 the representation of routes having the characteristics of reversibility, transitivity and
flexibility.
2. Regarding the tactical level (rule-based), the training should focus on the interaction with
the other road users, using the displayed messages to anticipate their behaviour;
3. Regarding the operational level (skill-based), the training should integrate the learning of
any system’s control.
The public transport operators, as well as automotive industrials, road safety authorities,
driving schools have a potential market in the elderly population, so that they should be
interested in supporting actions to stimulate the elderly (drivers and/or public transport
travellers) to use the new systems and to benefit from its use.
These supporting actions could be:
 Production of pamphlets with images and texts providing information about the system,
the benefits of its use, its usability and control;
 Short training programmes to teach them how to use the system and provide practical
experience of its use (2/3hours);
 Extensive training programmes to use in-vehicle ATT systems (drivers).
Recent developments of the cognitive training research stress the fact that computer-based
systems are bringing about substantial changes in tasks, imposing new skills that demand
adequate training methods. According to Bainbridge et al. (1989), the impact of new
technologies on training is twofold: first it results in skill demands that emphasise the
importance of cognitive skills, and second, new technologies provide new tools for training
and more control over training. Therefore, the design of training programmes adapted to
people who are elderly and different travelling contexts using telematics, should take into
account the following implications from the state of the art in cognitive training research:
1. Even if computers tasks are not familiar to the elderly, at each stage of the training
programme, the learning should be supported by pre-existing knowledge, because it is
likely to be more successful than training people in complete new tasks.
2. Learning materials should be well-elaborated and people should be encouraged and
helped to establish links between information that they are learning and the pre-existing
knowledge.
3. In order to maximise possibilities for transfer, the TP should be varied in terms of types
of stimuli, as well as learning skills and materials.
4. Pictorial forms should be used as stimuli and training materials, as they allow for easier
information processing.
5. Implicit memory being intact in the elderly, implicit memory skills should be used in
training.
 22

6. The training programme should develop the subjects’ capacities of selecting relevant
information and anticipating events and information presentation in order to ease decision
making.
7. The training programme should provide the acquisition of adequate compensatory
strategies to be used in subjects’ daily life.
In USA a mature driving improvement programme is established in California since 1987
being the participants entitled over the next three years to receive auto insurance premium
reductions (Janke, 1994). The course curriculum includes:
 Strategies to compensate visual and audio impairments,
 Precaution measures to prevent or offset the effects of fatigue, ill and medications on the
driving performance,
 Updates on rules and efficient driving techniques under present day road and traffic
conditions,
 Travel planning time and selecting routes for safety and efficiency,
 Decision making in dangerous, hazardous and unforeseen situations.
Additional suggestions have been proposed by Janke (1994), such as recommendations for
periodic medical and vision examinations, caution in terms of leaving enough distance
between cars in order to give more time to react to evolving traffic situations, high-risk
situations avoidance, as well as an incitement to assess periodically their own perceptual and
psychomotor skills in order to detect declines and, if possible, compensate for them.

7. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE ROAD ENVIRONMENT

IMPROVEMENT

As the driver is a component of the driving system, his or her characteristics should be taken
into account for the design of the different components of the roadway system. Therefore, the
following recommendations for the road environment improvement regard both categories of
travellers considered in this chapter (drivers and pedestrians who are elderly) whose needs
have been identified in relation to an inventory of areas of difficulty in performing driving
and walking-related tasks.

7.1. ENHANCING THE DRIVING CONTEXT

Aiming to meet the identified needs of drivers who are elderly and their requirements for safe
and comfortable driving, a set of recommendations for the road environment improvement
are presented below. Taking into account these measures, the outdoor mobility of people who
are elderly will be increased according to their needs and rights.
 23

Regarding their needs to perform safely the road-related tasks, Staplin et col 1998 suggested
the following for the intersections design:
 Sewed intersections should be avoided, being right angle better once it minimises head
rotation.
 Contrast of 2 between the painted edge of the roadway and the road surface if lighting is
operated (contrast of 3 if no lighting).
 To reduce confusion during an intersection approach, the use of a separate signal to
control movements in each lane of traffic is recommended.
 A minimum letter height of 150 mm is recommended for the use on post mounted street
name signs; for overhead mounted street signs, a minimal height of 200 mm is
recommended.
Regarding the traffic-related tasks, the major recommendations concern the required
information (in due time, correctly located, having adequate dimensions and contrast,
according to the environment conditions), as well as training programmes to improve the
driving ability. The required information (static and/or dynamic) should regard the position,
direction, identification and functioning/rules). Moreover, telematics could comply all the
remaining identified information needs of drivers who are elderly, but training programmes
should be addressed to an efficient use of these systems.

7.2. ENHANCING THE WALKING CONTEXT

Aiming to ensure safety and mobility of pedestrian who are elderly, their identified needs
regarding walking and the use of public transports should be taken into account on the
walking context design. Thus, these needs could direct the road and pedestrian environment
design, in a general way. More specifically, Marcellini et col 1998 propose the following
recommendations for the pedestrian areas improvement:
 More bench on the pavement,
 More courtesy from the drivers,
 More safety,
 More safety island for pedestrians (when crossing wide streets),
 Increase the duration of the red light period for the traffic light systems.
 A speed of walk of 0.85 m/s is recommended for the calculation of crossing signals
duration.
According to Oxley 1998, improvements of the environment according to the identified
needs of pedestrians who are elderly will be obtained by increasing the number of pedestrian
areas and of safety (protected crossing zone, reduction of car's speeds).
In a more general way, Zegeer 1993 proposes the following countermeasures to improve
safety of pedestrians who are elderly:
 Regulation
 24

 Education: some basic recommendation about pedestrian safety

 Road improvements
 Sign related measures
 Side walks to protect from traffic when walking along a street or a road
 Signalisation: pedestrian signals will extend the crossing period but these signals will
need to be identified and correctly used
 Safety island: reduce the crossing distances
 Light conditions: to increase the possibilities for the drivers to detect pedestrians who are
elderly
Regarding street crossings, as well as the access to public transport and public spaces, speed
walking, as well as comfortable step length and height should be taken into account on the
design of public spaces related to the public transport use. Steenbeckers & Beijsterveldt
(1998) propose a set of design guidelines based on measures of walking speed, step length
and height. Step length, defined as the distance covered while taking one step, has been found
between 43,8 cm (average men and women over 80 years old) and 52 cm (average men and
women from 65 to 69 years old). Walking speed has been found between 0,7m/s (average
men and women over 80 years old) 1,0 m/s (average men and women from 65 to 69 years
old). No significant difference has been found between comfortable step height ascending or
descending, so that the following average values should be considered for the steps design:
18 cm (men and women over 80 years old) and 19 cm (men and women from 65 to 69 years
old). The following guidelines have emerged from the above-referred measures:
 To determine the walking space required to walk behind a carriage, to pass through a
revolving door or to be covered by taking one step, the average values constitute a
reference point and the smaller values should be used.
 Lower walking speeds values should be taken into account once people who are elderly
use sometimes walking aids; in that case more time is required.
 Regarding step height, the lowest height found is not comfortable for all subjects, so that
adjustability is sometimes possible and recommended. Moreover, a flight of stairs should
be regular, inducing a certain rhythm of body movement.

8. CONCLUSIONS

The road environment improvement is a major requirement to satisfy the mobility and safety
needs of people of all ages. Actually, a system designed according to the special needs of
people who are elderly will be user-friendly to all users. Therefore, the increasing number of
people who are elderly in all developed countries, as well as the increasing number of drivers
over 60 years old, are not the only reasons why the importance of a systems’ design taking
into consideration their special needs should be stressed. Even if 90% of accidents are due to
a human error, the lack of information, an information perceived too late or an ambiguous
 25

information can lead to a judgement error and to make an appropriate decision. Thus, the
information provided to the road user (driver or pedestrian) is a major factor of safety. Easing
complicate manoeuvres by means of a good intersections design is a way of improving road
safety as well. Finally, the use of telematics could be of great help depending its success on a
good design and on adequate training interventions.

References

Bainbridge, L. (1989). Development of Skill, Reduction of Workload. In: Developing Skills

with Information Techonology (Bainbridge, L., & Quintanilla, S. A. R.). pp. 87-116. John
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