YOUNG AND OLD -- A STUDY IN PEDESTRIAN SAFETY

The pedestrian has been somewhat neglected in the traffic engineering sphere as an important and legitimate road user. Many of the pedestrians are young or senior citizens. The young pedestrian is described in terms of underdeveloped areas such as vision, hearing, concentration, estimation of speeds and his thinking process. The elderly pedestrian is also viewed in terms of eyesight, equilibrium and reaction time. Practical solutions to assist them with the task of successfully negotiating a street system are then discussed. This paper also compares the relative performance of various techniques and devices used in the pedestrian sphere including painted median treatments, pedestrian nibs, pedestrian islands and zebra marked crossings. The performances of various forms of devices are compared with the study clearly portraying that the zebra crossing is far from the safe facility perceived by the general public. The use of pedestrian medians together with adequate gaps and pedestrian handrails are commended. This paper concludes that there is great opportunity to install at low cost simple but proven facilities and that there is an urgent need to do so as good housekeeping on our existing road system (a). For the covering record of the forum, see IRRD no 822808.