A reduction of almost 48% of total fatalities was achieved in Europe in the past years due to efforts that were put into road safety. This includes also a reduced number of elderly fatalities due to road accidents. However, among all the road fatalities, the proportion of elderly is steadily increasing. Because society is aging demographically and obesity is becoming more prevalent, the SENIORS (Safety ENhanced Innovations for Older Road userS) project aimed to improve the safe mobility of the elderly, and persons who are overweight, using an integrated approach that covers the main modes of transport as well as the specific requirements of this vulnerable road user group. Thus, this project primarily investigated and assessed the injury reduction in road traffic crashes that could be achieved through innovative and appropriate passive vehicle safety tools as well as safety systems. The goal was to reduce, in the near future, the numbers of fatally and seriously injured older road users for both major groups: car occupants and external road users (pedestrians, cyclists, e-bike riders). The project covered research topics such as crash, hospital and behavioural data analysis, biomechanics, the development of test tools, procedures, and assessments. Further, to gain required data tests with volunteers and with post-mortem human subjects were carried out, crash and impactor tests were conducted and numerical human body model simulations were performed. A special attention was paid to cooperation with industry, academic and governmental bodies in Europe, but also to the United States of America and Japan.
SENIORS has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 636136.
