What other measures may improve road safety for older road users?

Answer

To make traffic participation safer for older road users, we must ensure that they have sufficient opportunities and time to perceive and process relevant information and that they are protected to reduce the severity of possible injuries. In addition to the infrastructure measures mentioned in the question What infrastructure measures may improve road safety for older road users, this can be done by using vehicle technology, ensuring sufficient protective measures and offering choices for safe forms of mobility. 

Use of vehicle technology 

Vehicle technology may support older drivers in various aspects of the driving task, tailored to the capabilities of the individual driver. For this purpose, technical adaptations such as power steering, automatic transmission and adjustments to the force with which the brake and/or accelerator pedal must be pressed have long existed (see www.autoaanpassers.nl). These are systems that primarily provide support for functional limitations in motor skills, such as a decrease in muscle strength. In addition, there are an increasing number of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) that can support older drivers. Systems to consider are listed in Table 7. 

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Table 7. Possible driver assistance systems that may support older drivers [42] [43].

Older car drivers, unlike younger drivers, are sensitive to the timing and complexity of navigation system instructions [44], have more difficulty learning new skills [45] and may rely too much on vehicle systems [42] [43].

Fully automated vehicles can be a godsend for older drivers (with functional limitations). Technology is developing rapidly, but at present the level of automation is limited to SAE Level 3 [i], where the driver must be alert to ‘take over requests’ from the system. Older drivers are known to react more slowly to requests to take over the wheel, with this group of drivers varying greatly in the quality of takeover. This, according to an international review of the literature, is due to the heterogeneity in this group in terms of functional limitations [46].

Examples of bicycle modifications that benefit older cyclists include anti-slip pedals, a rearview mirror on the handlebars and a more powerful headlight to see obstacles or suchlike well ahead of time [3]. There are several bicycles and systems under development that aim to reduce the risk of crashes at low speeds. Such as the so-called “SOFIETS” with low saddle height and an active handlebar support that helps to keep the bicycle stable even at lower speeds [47] or the tricycle that provides stability at standstill [3]

Means of protection 

If road crashes do occur despite the above measures, the consequences can be reduced by using means of protection such as a bicycle helmet, bicycle airbag or protective devices in cars.

Airbags and seat belts are well-known protection devices for cars. These are tested against Euro NCAP standards. This is done using test dummies, which are mostly scaled to the stature of the average man in the vehicle. Although the test dummies are becoming more varied - a female test dummy is increasingly being used [48] -the dummies cannot yet simulate the frailty of an older person. The body of an older person is more vulnerable at lower speeds than the body of a younger person. Collision tests should, according to the researchers of the European project SENIORS [49],be expanded within Euro NCAP to include lower-speed (30 km/h) tests with dummies based on the characteristics of older bodies. 

Examples of means of protection for cyclists are bicycle helmets and various types of airbags (the helmet airbag and the crash airbag for the cyclists themselves, and the bicycle airbag under the windshield of a car to protect cyclists in case of a collision with the car). If all over-70s in the Netherlands were to wear bicycle helmets, this would lead to an annual reduction of 45 to 50 road deaths (for more information, see SWOV fact sheet Bicycle helmets). Simulation studies show that bicycle airbags under the car windshield may reduce the impact on the head of cyclists who land on the windshield by approximately 75% [50].

Choice of transport mode 

If driving a car is no longer justifiable from a safety point of view, older road users should be supported in switching from car mobility to other modes of transport, each target group choosing which is most suitable to them. VVN has a website (Blijf veilig onderweg)where older road users can find information on various forms of mobility (mobility scooter, microcar, pedelec, bicycle or public transport) and courses available for these transport modes. The option of public transport is very important to people who are no longer able to drive a vehicle themselves. Since older people are living independently for longer and longer, and public transport is not always nearby, it is important - especially in rural areas - that demand-dependent transport is also available. 


[i] ‘An ‘SAE level of automated driving' is a classification to distinguish between different levels of self-driving vehicles. At SAE level 3, the vehicle can drive autonomously under specific conditions. If at any point the specific conditions are no longer met, the driver has to take over the driving task. See SWOV fact sheet Self-driving vehicles for more information on SAE levels.

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Older road users

From the age of 70, road users have an increased fatality rate as a result of a road crash. The fatality rate for older car drivers (70 or older) is Meer

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