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Should we make roads more ‘elderly friendly’?

Image of Alisdair Suttie
Author: | Updated: 07 Jul 2016 17:43

The road network in the UK needs many things, but does it need to be altered to suit older drivers? That’s the question raised by a report from the Older Drivers Taskforce (ODT) and a position backed by government.

Elderly People - Photo - Elliott Brown

Numbers of older drivers are set to increase dramatically between now and 2035, rising from today’s 4.7 million aged 70 and above, to 8.5 million in 20 years’ time. By then, this demographic will make up around a quarter of all road users in the UK and more than a million of them will be aged 85-years old or more.

Time out for T-junctions?

What’s recommended by the ODT is to replace a lot of current T-junctions with roundabouts. The thinking behind this is that many collisions involving older drivers occur at T-junctions where they are twice as likely to be in a fatal collision as younger drivers.

The report said: ‘Given the percentage of serious accidents at T-junctions increases significantly with age after 65, and that this does not happen at roundabouts, it would be worth studying the value of installing mini-roundabouts at busy T-junctions with little or no change to the kerb lines.’

Mini smash accident - PC - Ben Templesmith flickr

Would we have to assess every T-junction for its safety and the collision risk it poses? How do we assess that risk and calculate if it warrants a redesign?

John Plowman, Chairman of the ODT, says:  “This influx of older drivers has important economic and social value but it also presents road safety risks if we don't adapt. Getting to grips with these risks, without limiting the independence and freedoms of the elderly is an important policy challenge - one to be tackled by the appointment of a minister with responsibility for older drivers.”

Mandatory eye tests?

The same report also says that all drivers aged 60 and above should be required to take a mandatory eye test but that drivers should not be asked to renew their driving licence until they are 75-years old. The present age for renewing the driving licence is 70, but there is no mandatory eye test for drivers below that age.

Other recommendations from the same report were to introduce wider white lines to make them easier for older drivers to identify

Other recommendations from the same report were to introduce wider white lines to make them easier for older drivers to identify and to introduce segregated slip roads in place of T-junctions.

This second suggestion has some historic backing from the Netherlands’ Institute for Road Safety Research (SWOV) stated in its 2007 report by Ragnhild Davidse. This study showed that older drivers have trouble dealing with all of the information thrown at them by T-junctions, which causes them to delay and possibly make wrong decisions.

Frame on eye chart

What we need to ask is: are these collisions the result of the road design or driver error? If it’s the former, then certainly we need to look at changing road design to cope. Also, anything that does improve road layouts to reduce collision numbers is a good thing.

However, the SWOV report also makes it clear the root of the problem lies in the human factor. For this reason, it seems to make more sense to look at how we can improve driving standards among older drivers.

Slower reactions

Certainly, mandatory eye tests from the age of 60 make sense, but what about a compulsory fitness test? One that includes testing for reactions, mental and physical acuity, and hazard perception.

There is a precedent for this as anyone applying for a motor racing licence in the UK aged 45 and above has to undergo a full medical to obtain their racing licence to compete. You might say this is only suitable to racing due to its increased speeds and physical demands, but surely a fitness test would help spot potentially dangerous ailments before they were an issue on the road?

The other area we should be looking at before spending the fortune required to redesign our roads is the car itself. In the past 20 years, we’ve witnessed the biggest advances in vehicle safety. The advent of ABS anti-lock brakes in most cars, airbags, ESP traction control and, more recently, autonomous emergency braking.

Autonomous braking systems have been proven to reduce crash risk significantly

There are some cars with cross-traffic alert already on the market, which could make significant improvements to safety at T-junctions. Would it be better to offer these cars to older drivers or insist it is fitted as standard to all new cars? That’s something we would need to cost out as a driving nation.

The increase in vehicle autonomy and connectivity presents a huge opportunity to make our roads safer and to massively reduce fatalities and serious injuries.

The increase in vehicle autonomy and connectivity presents a huge opportunity to make our roads safer and to massively reduce fatalities and serious injuries. Rather than the focus on making cars self-driving and relegating the driver to a half-interested passenger, we should be looking to make drivers every bit as responsible for their actions as ever but give them all the assistance possible to do that safely.

At the end of the day though, technology cannot replace human judgement, whether that is with in-car systems or redesigned roads. This applies to all drivers, regardless of age, so it would appear there is still a lot to be done before we start digging up every T-junction.

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