A REVIEW OF WALK-WITH-CARE: AN EDUCATION AND ADVOCACY PROGRAM FOR OLDER PEDESTRIANS

Walk-With-Care is a VicRoads initiative to identify and reduce the dangers to older pedestrians through a combination of educational and engineering countermeasures. The program has relied on strong local government involvement and targeted municipalities with a high incidence of older pedestrian accidents. It was timely to review the administrative structure and the content and format of the educational sessions, given recent changes within the authority and local government. The review process comprised the examination of the available literature on older pedestrian safety, attendance at one of the educational sessions and extensive discussions with Walk-With-Care administrators, experts in the field of disability studies, and a road safety educational consultant. The review highlighted a number of problems with the way the program is currently staffed and implemented and barriers to achieving the objectives of the educational sessions. It also identified new messages for inclusion in the program and simpler and more effective ways to convey the existing ones. Recommendations include changes in staffing, implementation, promotion, resources, messages, format and evaluation. The basic thrusts of the changes proposed will ensure that the program reflects current road crash statistics and research, that the issue of older pedestrian safety is raised to a higher level in the community consciousness, and that the program is implemented with maximum efficiency, accountability and quality control. (a)