In this context ‘the elderly’ refers to people who are more likely to find it difficult to cope with traffic due to age-related impairments and more than average infirmities. It is not possible to associate this with a particular age range. To get some idea of the scale, statistics usually use a cut-off point at age 65. The percentage of people with problems rises greatly with age once people reach 75 and above. For this reason, 75 and over would be a better cut-off point. With increasing age, the powers of perception deteriorate and the speed with which these observations can be processed and responded to, reduces. Furthermore, people become more ‘fragile’ as they age. In the event of an accident their injuries will generally be more serious than in young people and the healing process will take longer. This applies to all modes of transport, walking, driving and using public transport. The slower respons time probably has the greatest impact on driving, the sense of balance on cycling and using public transport, and ‘fragility’ on cycling and walking. (Author/publisher)
Abstract