DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF MEASURES TO REDUCE THE ACCIDENT RISK OF ELDERLY ROAD USERS

Up to now the problems of elderly people in road traffic have rather been neglected compared for instance to the public interest in other risk groups, e.g., children and juveniles. However, current Austrian statistics show that the risk of persons older than 64 years being involved in a fatal road accident is only slightly lower than the risk of the age groups of 15 to 24 year old persons (the statistical data are based on the number of fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants). When considering that the proportion of elderly people and their participation in individual motorized road traffic will continuously increase it is high time for countermeasures which reduce the accident risk on the one hand and, on the other hand, support the traffic participation and mobility of elderly persons as long as possible. The goal of this research project, which was carried out on behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Art, was to develop proposals for measures which allow an optimum integration of elderly road users into the future traffic system. This contribution includes a description of the study, the most important results and proposals for measures derived.