Guidelines for improving the safety of elderly road users.

These guidelines are based on results of a study undertaken in 1983 and 1984 by an international group of OECD experts in co-operation with who. They are addressed to people who are involved in road safety work at the local level. Chapter 1 states the major arguments for paying special attention to the traffic safety problems of the elderly and warns against the tendency to use restrictions as an easy solution to these problems. Chapter 2 describes the key characteristics of biological ageing, as they apply to the subject of road safety: the inevitable reductions in sensory capacities and physical capabilities and the parallel changes in psychological state and psycho-social conditions. A summary of recent information about the amount of participation in road traffic by the elderly and their share of the accidents is discussed in chapter 3, which also contains information about the accident risks and accident circumstances of elderly road users. The practical orientation of the guidelines is prevailing in the last two chapters: chapter 4 deals with the road safety influence of the physical traffic environment as seen from a traffic engineering perspective and as determined by the information gathering, judgement and decision making capability of the elderly as well as their movement capacity and characteristic behaviour and attitudes. Finally, chapter 5 is concerned with education, publicity and training as means of reducing road accidents of the elderly. The advantages and limitation of the various approaches are identified, problem areas are highlighted and practical experiences are listed. This report is published in french under the title: principles directeurs pour l'amelioration de la securite des personnes agees dans la circulation.