In the coming decades, the share of older persons in the populations of the member states of the European Union (EU) will increase. Due to declining fertility rates and an increase in average life expectancy, the proportion of people of working age in Europe will be shrinking while the number of seniors will be expanding. By 2050, persons 65 years and older will likely account for 28.1% of the total population of EU member states. Seniors today are more mobile than seniors of earlier generations and mobility is critical for the maintenance of life satisfaction and subjective well-being. Therefore, this population aging is associated with an increase in the number of elderly road users. But participation in road traffic also bears the risk of being involved in road accidents. Due to age-related physiological changes the fatal accident risk for elderly road users is higher than that of their younger counterparts.
The main goal of the SENIORS project is to improve the safe mobility of the elderly. For this purpose the deliverable at hand provides an overview of the factors influencing safety and mobility of elderly road users. International projects, national databases on transport, and studies from the field of traffic psychology were drawn on to point out mobility habits of the elderly, their physical limitations as traffic participants, common accident scenarios as well as the behaviour of the elderly as traffic participant.
An in-depth analysis of mobility habits of elderly persons was conducted for the countries Germany, Italy, and Spain. Here, among others the frequency of trips, travelled distances, and trip purposes were analyzed for elderly persons as car occupants, cyclists, and pedestrians and were compared between the three countries to provide insight into the mobility behaviour of senior road users. The motorized individual transport is the most popular way of traffic participation among seniors and the rate of license holders as well as the availability of a car in the own household are high.
Since driving is a complex task that requires continuous information processing and appropriate and timely reactions, a person’s ability to move, perceive and react to the environment need to be considered. Throughout a literature research the changes to motor, visual, and cognitive functions that the ageing process brings about were analyzed in the deliverable at hand as well as the contribution of these functions to involvement in car accidents.
Furthermore, drawing on national databases and studies from the field of traffic psychology, typical accident scenarios of elderly road users were depicted as well as their use of safety equipment and their behaviour as car occupants, cyclists, and pedestrians. This synopsis also gives an idea of the availability of data in the field of transport and points out research gaps. At the end of the report, indications for future research efforts as well as for further activities in the SENIORS project were derived.
SENIORS has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 636136.
