Road Safety Environment and Design for Older Drivers

While older drivers do not currently represent a significant road safety problem in Australasia, they are over-represented in serious injury and casualty crashes per head of population, probably due to their frailty. Further to this, the population is increasingly \greying and this could result in an increase in the number of crashes involving older drivers. The present study set out to review the suitability of current road design requirements for older drivers in Australasia. The study was undertaken in a number of stages including a literature review, a critical examination of the Federal Highway Administration's recently released \Older Driver Highway Design Handbook\, a one-day expert workshop, and an examination of older driver \black spots in four Australasian jurisdictions. Primarily older drivers seem to have a difficulty selecting a safe gap in conflicting traffic at intersections, especially at those controlled by either stop or give way signs, or by traffic signals. Results from this research indicate that a number of road design features may be associated with older driver crashes in Australasia. In particular, it was concluded that improvements to intersection sight distances, provision of separate turn phases at traffic signals, more conspicuous traffic signal lanterns and more clearly defined vehicle paths have the potential to reduce crash and injury risk for older drivers. Roundabouts and traffic signals with fully controlled right-turn phases represent two important road-based countermeasures for addressing the gap selection problems commonly experienced by older drivers negotiating complex intersections. Areas for future research have been iden