Injuries to older users of buses in the UK

Abstract

The increasing age of the United Kingdom (UK) population coupled with enhanced life expectancy impacts on transport-user demographics and will affect transport planning in the years ahead. Whilst passenger car use is the ultimate means of personal independence, at some point the physiological and psychological impact of age-related conditions will inevitably shift people out of their vehicles and onto public transport systems. Overall, public transport is seen to be vital for social inclusion (Lucas et al. 2008) and it is considered a safe means of mobility. However, it is important that the public and, in particular, the elderly perceive it to be so. Injuries (across a spectrum of severities) do occur during public transport use from time to time. In fact, over 5000 people are injured on UK buses each year alone with over 300 bus-users killed/seriously injured (Department for Transport 2013). This study was designed to examine the nature of injuries and their causes to older bususers with the aim being to establish where design countermeasures may be indicated. The study uses descriptive statistics to analyse linked (accident and injury) data involving a sample of older bus-users. Most incidents in the linked dataset were non-collisions (62 %) resulting in 1381 recorded injuries in those aged 60? years, of which 46 % were 'slight' and 54 %'serious'.

Measuring Public Transport Accessibility for Elderly

“…Also providing more benches, more public toilets and better street lighting would make walking easier and more attractive for elderly.  Another study focuses on free bus pass to most common travel places for passenger aged over 60 [24].  Provide STS (special transport service) for the people are unable to use public transport or car.…”

A Transport Policy Whose Injury Impacts May Go Unnoticed: More Walking, Cycling and Use of Public Transport

“…This decline in risk most probably also applies to public transport passengers. Two British studies that relied on the same source of data [14,15] (police reports; most likely affected by considerable under-reporting) indicate a decline in risk. The first study [14] relied on data for 1999–2001.…”

Supporting a Design Driven Approach to Social Inclusion and Accessibility in Transport

“…Funded by the Medical Research Council under their Lifelong Health and Wellbeing programme, part of the OPTU project focused on the use of a human modelling approach as a means of exploring issues and evaluating design interventions. Based upon an analysis of the police accident database STATS_19 exemplar case studies were identified (Barnes et al, 2015). To illustrate the process, one of those case studies is outlined here.…”

“…Transport also appears to be of particular importance to older users and the ageing population has the potential to significantly affect public transport planning in future years (Barnes et al, 2015;Green, Jones, & Roberta, 2014). The inverse is also true in that social exclusion as a result of transport exclusion is a major concern, particularly as people age and potentially lose access to personal transport as they have to give up driving, as their mobility decreases, as they retire and potentially have reduced income, these factors are also prevalent in those that have disabilities (Green et al, 2014;Mackett & Thoreau, in press).…”