Road traffic accidents and the elderly

“…More than half of all falls in independent older community-dwelling people occur outside the home (Fothergill et al, 1995;Lord et al, 2001). Although the data are scarce, a study conducted on the US population reported that 77.5% of pedestrian's nonfatal injuries were linked to a fall; accidents while crossing the street (15%) and overexertion (5.8%) were the other main causes (Naumann et al, 2011; see also Abou-Raya and ElMeguid, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of safety and mobility issues among older pedestrians

Tournier

Dommès²,

Cavallo³

2016

Accident Analysis & Prevention

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a b s t r a c tAlthough old people make up an extremely vulnerable road-user group, older pedestrians' difficulties have been studied less extensively than those of older drivers, and more knowledge of this issue is still required. The present paper reviews current knowledge of older-adult problems with the main components of pedestrian activity, i.e., walking and obstacle negotiation, wayfinding, and road crossing. Compared to younger ones, old pedestrians exhibit declining walking skills, with a walking speed decrease, less stable balance, less efficient wayfinding strategies, and a greater number of unsafe road crossing behaviors. These difficulties are linked to age-related changes in sensorial, cognitive, physical, and self-perception abilities. It is now known that visual impairment, physical frailty, and attention deficits have a major negative impact on older pedestrians' safety and mobility, whereas the roles of self-evaluation and self-regulation are still poorly understood. All these elements must be taken into consideration, not only in developing effective safety interventions targeting older pedestrians, but also in designing roads and cars. Recent initiatives are presented here and some recommendations are proposed.

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“…Caused by physiological changes as described earlier, the reaction time and the time needed for analyzing recognized situations is often extended. In addition, seniors seemed to be overwhelmed by the amount of information given nowadays in regular traffic situations [5] . The accident causations could not be analyzed within this study and future studies should give special focus to this.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…AIS is a severity scoring system that classifies injuries in each body region. Classification ranges from minor to maximum (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6), indicating the relative severity of each body region. MAIS indicates the maximum AI-Scale of a trauma victim.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is not only an increase in age, but also in motorization in our society. A growing number of elderly people are taking part daily in traffic scenes, so the number and the severity of accidents involving older pedestrians [1,5,6] , bicyclists or older people using motorized vehicles is increasing [2,[6][7][8][9] . Furthermore, older people are less resistant to trauma due to co morbidities, e.g., osteoporosis [4] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Injury patterns of seniors in traffic accidents: A technical and medical analysis

Brand¹,

Otte²,

Mueller

et al. 2012

WJO

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AIM:To investigate the actual injury situation of seniors in traffic accidents and to evaluate the different injury patterns. METHODS:Injury data, environmental circumstances and crash circumstances of accidents were collected shortly after the accident event at the scene. With these data, a technical and medical analysis was performed, including Injury Severity Score, Abbreviated Injury Scale and Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale. The method of data collection is named the German InDepth Accident Study and can be seen as representative. RESULTS:A total of 4430 injured seniors in traffic accidents were evaluated. The incidence of sustaining severe injuries to extremities, head and maxillofacial region was significantly higher in the group of elderly people compared to a younger age (P < 0.05). The number of accident-related injuries was higher in the group of seniors compared to other groups. CONCLUSION:Seniors are more likely to be involved in traffic injuries and to sustain serious to severe injuries compared to other groups.

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Road traffic accidents and the elderly

Abstract: The fragility of elderly car occupants and pedestrians should be taken into consideration and strategies aimed at the road-user safety including periodic medical screening, improvement of road structure and facilities, and the improved design of motor vehicles should be implemented.

Cited by 57 publications

References 40 publications

Road Traffic Injuries and Data Systems in Egypt: Addressing the Challenges

Road Traffic Injuries and Data Systems in Egypt: Addressing the Challenges

Review of safety and mobility issues among older pedestrians

Injury patterns of seniors in traffic accidents: A technical and medical analysis

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