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Pedestrians aged over 65 are known to be a critical group in terms of road safety because they represent the age group with the highest number of fatalities or injured persons in road accidents. It is therefore important to identify and characterize how old pedestrians perceive pedestrian paths with respect to their age related declines in perceptu...
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... shown in Table 3, critical issues of pedestrian paths were grouped in clusters by using SPSS software. To use K-Means clustering, the number of clusters is arbitrarily determined, either from existing knowledge of the data and the approximate number of groups you want to divide the data into. ...Similar publications
Road crashes have become a serious issue, and their negative impact, both socially and economically, has been subject to policies and programmes worldwide as well as a research topic for numerous studies in various fields. The present study aims to identify and demonstrate the persistence of certain features related to the occurrence and location o...
![Fig. 6. Reflectors on the road [P1, Grade 10, Boy].](profile/Preeti-Gautam-4/publication/348756448/figure/fig5/AS:984044368056321@1611625868126/Reflectors-on-the-road-P1-Grade-10-Boy_Q320.jpg)
Background: Busy and poor road infrastructure along routes to school poses high risk of traffic
injury for children and adolescents. Ensuring every young person’s safe journey to and from
school is fundamental to achieving reductions in road injuries and Sustainable Development Goal
3.6. However, there is little evidence reporting adolescent’s v...
In many cases, the effects of road accidents have significant impact on human health. This translates directly into society, in both material and emotional terms. The severity of the injury in a road event depends largely on the speed of the vehicles. Excessive vehicle speed is of particular concern in incidents involving vulnerable road users. As...
To reduce serious crashes, contemporary research leverages opportunities provided by technology. A potentially higher added value to reduce road trauma may be hidden in utilising emerging technologies, such as headset-delivered virtual reality (VR). However, there is no study to analyse the application of such VR in road safety research systematica...
Although the positive impacts of the urban experience are perceptible when the population occupies public spaces, it is notable that the pedestrian loses more space to motorized transportation every day. The cities are often adapted or even built for the circulation of automotive, which increasingly decreases the walkability in urban areas. However...
Citations
... Many researchers have investigated the influencing factors of crashes in the elderly (Al AlKheder, AlRukaibi et al., 2020;Amiri, Sadri et al., 2020;Casado-Sanz, Guirao et al., 2019;Haule, Sando et al., 2019;Noh, Kim et al., 2018;Pan, Wu et al., 2022;Park, Choi et al., 2021;Wen, Qu et al., 2021;Yuan, Q., Zhang et al., 2022;, the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of the elderlyinvolved accidents Chang, Li et al., 2020;Etehad, Yousefzadeh-Chabok et al., 2015;Freitas, Bonolo et al., 2015;Kang, Cho et al., 2018;Nishino, 2013;Prochowski, Gidlewski et al., 2018;Sadeghi-Bazargani, Samadirad et al., 2018;Sagar, Stamatiadis et al., 2020;Setiawan, 2021), safety awareness and risk cognition of the elderly Guo, Shi et al., 2018;Hamido, Hamamoto et al., 2021;Handa and Mitobe, 2020;Jian and Shi, 2020;Laosee, Rattanapan et al., 2018;Makizako, Shimada et al., 2018;Nakagawa, 2019;Nishiuchi, Park et al., 2021;Pulvirenti, Distefano et al., 2020;Söllner and Florack, 2019;Uchibori, Handa et al., 2021). Using traditional traffic safety analysis methods, scholars have analysed the relationship between the number or severity of crashes and various factors involving human error, vehicles and the road environment to find the cause of accidents. ...
... Other researchers analyzed samples of people 65 years old and older ( Table 1). Still others selected an age range starting at 50 years , 55 or 70years old (Nishiuchi, Park et al., 2021;Pulvirenti, Distefano et al., 2020). Although most scholars adopt 65 years as the standard to define the elderly, there is no uniformity and no comparison of differences between different samples. ...
Ageing is an inevitable trend of population development. It is vital to study the traffic safety of elderly populations. Although much literature has been produced about this issue, problems such as an inconsistent definition of the elderly and scattered research objectives still exist. This study uses crash data analysis to find the conclusions, limitations and development directions of this research by retrieving accident analysis studies of the elderly from 2015 to the present. This study reviews crash analysis methods and crash characteristics and crash-influencing factors among the elderly. Most of the current studies analysing traffic accidents in the elderly come from the United States, China and Korea. The literature typically defines the elderly as those above 60 or 65 years old. Common research methods include statistical and machine learning methods. Key factors influencing traffic safety among the elderly are factors related to crash victims, vehicles and the road environment. Future research directions are proposed to investigate the heterogeneity of elderly populations in greater depth.
... In this context, the risks to pedestrians on the road and their high vulnerability to serious injury as a result of traffic crashes have become a major concern for policy makers and health professionals [7]. The progressive aging of the population, associated with the decline in the abilities of older pedestrians, is also an important factor affecting the level of safety that urban areas provide for vulnerable users [8,9], which must also be taken into account when determining the most appropriate safety measures [10,11]. It is estimated that about 12 million road accidents involving pedestrians occur each year, killing about 270,000 people worldwide (about 23% of all road fatalities worldwide [12]). ...
The speed value of 30 km/h should not be exceeded in urban areas, both to ensure safety requirements for all categories of users and to improve the overall quality of life in urban areas. Moreover, it is necessary not only to comply with the prescribed maximum speed, but also to ensure a uniform speed by limiting the variations in relation to the average value within an acceptable range of variation. An original analysis methodology is therefore proposed, useful for both technicians and administrators to verify the effectiveness of traffic calming measures, especially in areas where these measures are widely used, such as Zones 30. This methodology, called SPEIR (acronym for Speed Profile, Effectiveness Indicators and Results, which are the keywords of the three steps into which the proposed methodology is divided), is divided into three operational steps necessary to both verify the effectiveness of existing traffic calming measures in a given context and to plan new traffic calming measures to be implemented in specific urban sectors to be requalified and revitalized. Finally, three case studies are presented where the application of the SPEIR methodology is useful not only for understanding the operational steps in the application of the methodology itself, but also for understanding the differences in terms of the safety performance that the various traffic calming measures provide to the users of the urban streets where such measures are present.
... In modern life, older people prefer to walk in their neighborhoods [6][7][8], but like all age groups, they rely on cars as their primary mode of transportation, which allows them to maintain their autonomy over long distances [9]. However, as people age, decline in motor skills, vision, somatosensory functions and cognition increases, which can have a significant impact on driving skills, including the ability to correctly visualize the driving scenario and understand the dynamics occurring there [10,11]. ...
Longer life expectancy is leading to an increase in the average age of the European population. In 2018, 20% of the population was over 65 years old. In 2070, 30.3% of the population will be over 65. Older people prefer to walk in their neighborhoods but they rely on cars as their primary mode of transportation, which allows them to maintain their autonomy over long distances. However, age-related physical impairments can have a significant impact on driving skills, including the ability to properly visualize driving scenarios. Numerous studies have shown that older drivers have significant safety problems at standard intersections rather than roundabouts (40% of fatal crashes occur at standard intersections among drivers 70 years and older). In this work, it was decided to study a specific parameter representative of the behavior of all road users when preparing for the typical maneuvers at stop-controlled intersections (crossing, right-turn and left-turn). This parameter is the gap accepted by elderly road users at different stop-controlled intersections and under homogeneous traffic conditions. For this purpose, a research campaign was organized with 37 elderly drivers performing all possible maneuvers at 9 intersections in Italy (Eastern Sicily). The experimentally determined values of the critical gap for left-turn and crossing maneuvers were found to be compatible with those of the main internationally used reference manuals for road design. The value of the critical 50th percentile gap (G 50 ) for the right-turn maneuver was similar to that for the left-turn maneuver. This is an indication of a very similar level of difficulty for older drivers in performing both turning maneuvers. The results of this study have highlighted the need to take into account the different operational difficulties associated with the possible maneuvers at intersections. The theoretical approaches of the Italian legislation are carried out, based on a criterion that does not distinguish according to the way in which the three maneuvers, which proves to be totally inadequate. This suggests a complete revision of the criteria for checking sight distances at stop-controlled intersections.
... The body of literature dealing with accessibility of urban areas for vulnerable road users is extensive (Campisi et al. 2018;Canale et al. 2015;Leonardi et al. 2020;Mrak et al. 2019). The mobility of older people in particular has been intensely investigated (Van Hoven and Meijering 2019; Jittrapirom et al. 2019;Pulvirenti et al. 2020). Various authors have emphasized that to facilitate mobilities in later life, it is important that accessible, clearly structured and predictable urban environments are provided (Van Hoven and Meijering 2019; Risser et al. 2010). ...
Cork oak forests in Sardinia cover about 139,500 ha of land both as pure stands or wooded pastures. Starting from a research activity carried on the territories of Goceano, focused on the application of a methodology on the evaluation of Ecosystem Services (ESs) provided by cork oak forests, this study presents a methodology for designing and implement local ecological networks able to maximize the value of ESs (in particular, provisioning, regulation and cultural) through a GIS-based cost distance analysis (least cost path method). The least cost path method supports the best corridors for connecting landscape patches to be adopted in ecological infrastructure planning for Goceano. Two GIS layers (the source layer and the impedance layer) are used as inputs: the source layer represents the landscape patches from which connectivity is calculated according to the cost of ecosystem services related to local ecological network. The impedance layer represents resistance values assigned by summarizing the weight values of the relative costs of traveling through each land use type and geographical position. The framework of values provided and the local ecological network automatically calculated can be useful bases to better define multi-functional management systems and development strategies aimed to assist the evolution of these rural landscapes in response to climate and societal changes.
... The correct design of the spaces and their accessibility must consider all age groups and problems related not only to safety but also to perception and comfortable movement. The body of literature dealing with accessibility of urban areas for vulnerable road users is extensive [4][5][6][7] The mobility of older people in particular has been intensely investigated [8][9][10]. Various authors have emphasized that to facilitate mobilities in later life, it is important that accessible, clearly structured and predictable urban environments are provided [8], [11]. ...
The accessibility of urban contexts is closely connected to analysis of geometric and functional details that can influence the actions of road vulnerable users. The correct design of the spaces and their accessibility must consider all age groups and problems related not only to safety but also to perception and comfortable movement. This research investigated the behavior of 3887 pedestrians (both elderly and non-elderly people) in two pedestrian crossings located in an urban intersection of Catania. Two video cameras were used to record oncoming vehicles and pedestrians at the intersection. An initial analysis of the number of legal/illegal crossings was developed in order to understand if different crosswalk setback distances lead pedestrians to illegal crossings. The results show that pedestrians prefer to cross choosing the shortest way, even if this leads to illegal crossing. Then, the kerb delay was calculated, i.e. the time interval between the moment in which the rear part of the last vehicle in the queue exceeds the pedestrian waiting for crossing and the moment when the pedestrian takes the first step to cross. The hypothesis that older pedestrians have longer kerb delay because of declines in their physical, sensory, perceptual or cognitive abilities was tested.
... However, other methods such as fuzzy fault tree analysis, TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution), AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process), and cluster analysis could be useful to address this topic and could be used in the future to further analyze the problem. Other studies in the literature used these methods in transportation fields [30][31][32][33][34]. Despite being based on a small sample of roundabouts, this study contributes to increasing knowledge about unsafe driving behaviors at double-lane roundabouts. ...
This study investigated the nature and causes of unsafe driving behavior at roundabouts
through an on-road study. Four urban double-lane roundabouts with different layouts were selected
for an on-road study. Sixty-six drivers (41 males and 25 females) aged 18–65 years took part in
the study. Unsafe behaviors observed during the in situ survey were divided into three different
categories: entry unsafe behaviors, circulation unsafe behaviors, and exit unsafe behaviors. Three
chi-square automatic interaction detection (CHAID) analyses were developed in order to analyze
the influence of roundabout characteristics and maneuvers on unsafe behaviors at double-lane
roundabouts. The results confirmed the awareness that double-lane roundabouts are unsafe and
inadvisable. More than half of unsafe driving behaviors were found to be entry unsafe behaviors.
Moreover, the entry radius was found to be the geometric variable most influencing unsafe
driving behaviors.
... The authors have already developed two studies related to elderly pedestrians' safety and perception in the urban area of Catania (Leonardi, Distefano, & Pulvirenti, 2020b;. Pulvirenti et al. (Pulvirenti et al., 2020) wanted to understand how human factors influence elderly pedestrian perception of critical issues of pedestrian paths. Leonardi et al. (2020b) instead focused on the design solutions and strategies that elderly propose in order to improve the safety of pedestrian paths, considering the influence of human factor. ...
The benefits of mobility in later life and active ageing have been widely documented and evidenced. Despite its clear benefits, physical activity levels among older people fall short of recommended levels. Older people can have feelings of fear when walking in the outdoor environment. In order to facilitate mobility in later life, it is important that accessible, clearly structured and predictable urban environments are provided. This study wants to understand which aspects and measures the elderly consider more important in order to encourage and improve neighbourhood walkability, considering the influence of age-related declines and experience as road users. A survey was developed in the urban area of Catania (Italy). The total sample comprised 645 participants (355 men and 290 women) aged over 70. A Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was developed to analyse the data. Results show that elderly pedestrians with minor age-related declines give stronger importance to the walkability along the road, but also focus on improper or aggressive driving behaviours. Pedestrians with major age-related declines give instead more importance to the level of comfort and safety when they cross the road. The driving experience was found to have little influence on elderly priorities for neighbourhood walkability.
Public participation is a fundamental step of decision-making processes to achieve a good social sharing and robustness of the decision itself. In transport decisions spatial criteria assume a key role, since their assessment, and therefore their classification, is also dependent on the spatial distribution of people affected by a project. In this view, collaborative mapping can be considered a tool able to engage communities and individuals in spatial decision-making in the context of transport planning and, more in general, in designing their own environment. This study presents a first test of a collaborative mapping process, conducted within a design workshop aimed at finding solutions to secure an unsafe crossing to access a university campus; the collected information were discussed directly with the public, in a venue with designers, citizens and decision-makers. Starting from advantages and disadvantages of this experience, the authors developed the framework for a spatial collaborative tool aimed at evaluating the safety and pleasantness of urban spaces and mobility spots able to permit a wider participation. The tool is conceived as bidirectional: on the one hand, users enter information on their mobility habits and provide the location and assessment of points considered dangerous during their trips; on the other, the map itself is attractive since it includes the information provided by the other users. Results coming from the participation can be useful for decision-makers to evaluate priority in the design of new interventions in the study area.
Introduction: Pedestrians aged over 65 are known to be a critical group in terms of road safety because they represent the age group with the highest number of fatalities or injured people in road accidents. With a current ageing population throughout much of the developed world, there is an imminent need to understand the current transportation requirements of older adults, and to ensure sustained safe mobility and healthy. Objectives: The aim of this study is to capture and analyze the key components that influence the identification of design solutions and strategies aimed at improving the safety of pedestrian paths for elderly. Method: A survey was conducted in 5 different locations in Catania, Italy. The locations were specifically chosen near to attraction poles for elderly pedestrians (e.g. centers for the elderly, squares, churches). Participants were recruited in person, so as to select exclusively people over 70. The sample comprised 322 participants. Both Hierarchical and K-Means clustering were used in order to explore which solutions elderly pedestrian propose for improving the safety of pedestrian path. Results: The results show that the judgment expressed by the elderly on the solutions for improving pedestrian safety is linked to the gender, to the experience as road users, and to mobility and vision problems. All solutions proposed regard road infrastructure (improvement of pedestrian crossings and of sidewalks, implementation of traffic calming measures, improvement of lighting), except for police supervision. Conclusion: This study has identified the factors that influence the identification of the best solutions to increase the safety level of pedestrian paths for elderly people. The aspects related to human factors considered were the gender, the factors associated with the experience as road users and the factors related to age related problems (mobility, vision and hearing problems). The results of this research could support traffic engineers, planners, and decision-makers to consider the contributing factors in engineering measures to improve the safety of vulnerable users such as elderly pedestrians.
