Elderly and disabled travellers: intelligent transport systems designed for the 3rd millennium (Nicolle & Peters): The TELematic Standards and Coordination of Advanced Transport Telematics systems in relation to elderly and disabled travelers (TELSCAN) project in the Transport Sector of the Telematics Applications Programme of the European Union has developed a Handbook of Design Guidelines (Nicolle & Burnett, 1999) to support designers of intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) to include the needs of people who are elderly or disabled. This article describes the methods of the Handbook's development, including an overview of the methodology for capturing the requirements of elderly and disabled travelers, a survey of existing guidelines, and empirical results and lessons learned form simulator testing. The authors conclude that although general guidelines are necessary, the most specific and useful guidelines emerge only when carefully chosen research questions can be investigated. The development of such guidelines should help us come closer to achieving usability of ITS not only for elderly and disabled people, but for everybody as we enter the 3rd millennium. (A) Commentary on "Elderly and disabled travelers: intelligent transport systems designed for the 3rd millennium" (Campbell): This article provides interesting and useful information on a number of important topics, including ACC design, the needs of elderly and disabled drivers, and design guideline development. The issues associated with the draft TELSCAN guidelines that I have raised here represent opportunities for the future improvement of the guidelines. If these issues were addressed, the value of the handbook to ITS designers would be greatly increased. The human factors community possesses the ability and the tools to develop effective and valuable design guidelines. These tools include methods associated with conducting analyses of user requirements, presenting design guidelines in a manner that is consistent with system designers' needs and desires for human factors information, and identifying, reviewing, and integrating relevant data sources for guideline development. Future TELSCAN guideline development activities can use these tools to further improve the usability of ITS devices for elderly and disabled drivers. (A) Reply to comments on "Elderly and disabled travelers: intelligent transport systems designed for the 3rd millennium" (Nicolle & Peters): The final draft version of the TELSCAN Handbook of Design Guidelines (Nicolle & Burnett, 1999), at least for this current project, will be produced at the end of June 1999. Even then it is anticipated that, if further funding can be achieved the issues that have been raised here will lead to future improvements. The TELSCAN consortium possesses the expertise and the tools to continue making a valuable contribution toward the inclusion of people who are elderly and disabled in the design of ITS devices. (A)
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