"Age-related declines in vision, cognition, and physical ability affect how older road users drive and use other transportation modes. The Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and National Cooperative Highway Research Program sponsored a scanning study to assess infrastructure improvements designed to aid older road users in Australia and Japan. The scan team found that using a systems approach provides for integration of safety of older roads users and that enhancing safety for older road users improves safety for all. The team also observed engineering, policy, and educational programs that can improve the safety and mobility of older road users. Team recommendations for U.S. implementation include integrating information from the scan on infrastructure improvements benefiting older road users into relevant U.S. documents, encouraging partnerships between government and nongovernment organizations to address older road users' needs, and developing a research program on policies and interventions targeted to older road users"--Technical report documentation page.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 348: Improving the Safety of Older Road Users examines programs and policies in place across the country to improve the safety and mobility of older road users. The report documents a range of strategies and related programs under way in roadway engineering, driver licensing, public information and education, and enforcement and adjudication.

This report on the mobility needs and safety problems of ageing populations dispels many of the myths and misperceptions commonly held regarding elderly road users, and offers policy and research recommendations to provide for their safe, lifelong mobility.

Explores the mobility and safety needs of older persons. The report examines safety needs of the older person in traffic; reviews potential measures to improve highways, vehicles, driver and pedestrian performance, and alternatives to the private automobile; and assesses public policy questions about costs, the tradeoffs between safety and mobility objectives, and the sometimes conflicting needs of individuals, different age groups, and the public generally. The report also identifies areas for future research and includes recommendations for improvements in highway conditions, vehicle design, licensing, testing, education activities, and transportation alternatives. The report was published in two volumes. Volume 1 contains an overview of the issues and the committee's recommendations; Volume 2 contains the technical papers prepared for the study.

This article explains why safety for elderly drivers and pedestrians is an issue. Information is provided on the changing age structure in Canada and the importance of mobility, followed by a discussion of older people and the problems they face on the road. It addresses the age-related changes individuals often experience that can affect mobility, and includes a discussion of environmental factors that may have an impact on older drivers and pedestrians. It concludes with an overview of some possible countermeasures that could be taken by the elderly individual, urban developers, highway planning departments and others who are concerned about these issues.