Differences in traffic judgments between young and old adult pedestrians Professor: Liu Student: Ruby

Motive & Purpose Motive –Older pedestrians’ crashes has a high percentage than young pedestrians’. Purpose –The authors want to know the behavior between younger and older pedestrians.

Reference AuthorsYearResult Alexander et al. Sheppard and Pattinson Older pedestrians have a higher risk when they crossing the road than younger pedestrians. Fildes et al.1994Pedestrians accounted for 19% dead and almost have 30% are older people (>65 years old). Stelmach and Nahom Trigs et al The older people’s perceptual, sensory and cognitive are reduced.

“Blackspot” Accident Analysis ‘Blackspots’ –Road sites which show high crash records. –4 crashes within a midblock section of 1 km, or six pedestrian crashes within 1 km in a local traffic area within a 3-year period is a ‘blackspot’ area.

Method Duration –1987-mid-1995 Total accident –52 Pedestrian –19 older pedestrians (65 years old) –33 younger pedestrians

Road location The older pedestrians are lacking of consideration for traffic in the far-side lane. Maybe we can say that higher crash rates in the far-side lane because the older pedestrians walk slowly.

First test Location: shopping centers on arterial roads in Melbourne. Set up two video cameras to observe the people who across the roads. 80 older and 80 younger pedestrians. 10 A.M and 1 P.M. on weekdays.

Layout of observational filming

Results- Kerb delay Kerb delay –The duration in the back of the last car passed a waiting pedestrian to the first step forward onto the roadway. There was a significant difference between groups for kerb delay.

Results- Gap acceptance Gap acceptance –The distance of a near-side oncoming car from a pedestrian at the first step forward to cross the road. The younger pedestrians significant shorter gaps than older pedestrians.

Results- Time-of-arrival of car and pedestrian crossing times Time-of-arrival of car and pedestrian crossing times –The closest near-side car were calculated from the time when a pedestrian took the first step forward to cross at the time when the vehicle reached the crossing point.

Results- Time-of-arrival of car and pedestrian crossing times

Results- Crossing styles Crossing styles –The crossing times and the traffic distribution during the road cross fro all pedestrians in each groups. Non-interactive who adopted an ‘extra safe’. Interactive crossers who adopted a less safe strategy. –Near-side traffic –Far-side traffic –Both direction of traffic

Results- Crossing styles

Discussion The older pedestrians took longer to leave the kerb after a car passed their line of crossing. Older people behave in a less safe than younger adults when making judgments on gaps in the traffic. Many older people may have difficulties judging the nearness of a car when stepping off the kerb.

Discussion In a complex environment of two-way traffic, older people will think two problems, one is the directions of traffic and another is making decisions. Some older people will cross the far-side traffic, in this reason they will get crash very often because their walking speed is very slowly.

Second test Location: shopping centers on arterial roads in Melbourne. Set up two video cameras to observe the people who across the roads. 40 older and 40 younger pedestrians. In gap acceptance, time-of-arrival and crossing time measures were obtained for 33 younger people and 31 older people. 10 A.M and 1 P.M. on weekdays.

Results Average traffic flow and car speed were comparable for the two groups.

Results-Kerb delay No significant in these two groups.

Result-Gap acceptance No significance here. Probably the experimenter number is too small.

Result-Time-of-arrival of vehicle and pedestrian crossing times

Discussion The older pedestrians behaved much more like younger and a little different from those in the first study. The older people in the first study over compensate than younger people.

General Discussion When age increases, the ability to cross the road becomes more difficult. The older people difficulties in judging the gaps in traffic. Older pedestrians are impaired compared to younger people because they take in less information and are less able to process the information to reach a decision.

General Discussion The older people hard to change their attention because their capacity reduce. Older people are hard to do the actively selecting or dividing attention between sources of information in order to make the right judgments.

Conclusions When older people cross the road, they tend to adopt when the road have been identified. Gap acceptance and time-of-arrival judgments are factors in safe road crossing behaviors on the road