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...baby-boom generation reaches retirement. What transportation impacts be expected as a result of the aging baby boomers? The capabilities essential for safe driving--visual, cognitive, and physical--undergo changes with age. These changes can influence the safety of drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.
For example, visual changes affect the distance at which older drivers can see and recognize the writing on signs and may make it more difficult for them to detect pavement markings. Physical changes influence reaction times and restrict physical movement in seniors. These types of changes present transportation agencies with the challenge of finding and implementing solutions to help seniors maintain safe mobility in their communities.
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The U.S. Department of Transportation and State departments of transportation (DOTs) recognize the importance of continued mobility to seniors. Several State DOTs already have taken specific steps to improve delivery of enhanced visual information that is helpful for maintaining safety for aging drivers. For instance, some States have broadened and brightened pavement markings to better delineate lanes and road edges. Others have made signs and signals more conspicuous.
"Safety is a bunch of little things, and the key is to come up with a whole menu of remedies that collectively will cut crashes and fatalities," says John Friend, engineer of delivery for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). "I know in Michigan we have taken many approaches. Our fatality rate is going down."
Whatever modifications are made, they reflect a growing realization that not only seniors but everyone, sooner or later, will benefit from better, safer roadways.
Highway Design Handbook And Workshops
The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) legislation contains provisions to "carry out a program to improve traffic signs and pavement markings in all States" consistent with the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Highway Design Handbook for Older Drivers and Pedestrians (FHWA-RD-01-103). The handbook provides 109 recommendations for safety enhancement, grouped under five categories: intersections (at-grade), interchanges (grade separation), roadway curvature and passing zones, construction work zones, and highway-rail grade crossings (passive).
Many States have hosted one or more FHWA-sponsored workshops that presented the handbook's recommendations, and Iowa and New Jersey have hosted train-the-trainer sessions. Because of these sessions, Iowa has held several workshops for county and local transportation agencies. New Jersey is planning similar workshops.
It is crucial to recognize that safety and navigational enhancements implemented for older road users should benefit all users as well. Consideration of safety improvements geared for aging drivers therefore should be an integral part of the planning, design, and development phases of all roadway projects. In most cases, the enhancements are a minor part of the overall project cost and are cost effective when compared to the long-term benefits they offer.
Sign Enhancements
Traveling the Nation's roadways can be confusing and challenging for all drivers if routes are not clearly marked or easily understood, especially when the driver is in unfamiliar territory. This challenge can be compounded for an older motorist who might have diminished cognitive or physical abilities. From an engineering standpoint, opportunities to enhance drivers' abilities to detect signs and comprehend sign messages include: sign legibility, placement, brightness (retroreflectivity), and size.
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Legibility. Legibility is generally defined as the readability of a particular writing style, or font. Fonts approved for use on highway signs (FHWA's Standard Alphabets) have changed little since the 1960s. Research conducted in the 1990s, however, resulted in a new font, Clearview, that provides faster word recognition at greater distances by optimizing each letter's legibility and by reducing halos around text messages. In the last decade, several indepth studies have shown that the Clearview alphabet's legibility represents a 16-percent improvement in recognition distance by older drivers and a 12-percent increase in legibility for all drivers compared to the existing standard (modified Series E font) for guide signs. Thus, the Clearview font results in faster reading, comprehension, and reaction times for drivers performing required driving tasks. To spread the safety benefits nationwide, FHWA granted interim approval in a September 2004 memorandum for the optional use of the Clearview font for positive guidance on guide signs.
To date, eight States (Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia) have adopted Clearview font for use on guide signs on all or part of their systems, and nine more States have received FHWA approval to use the Clearview font.
Another approach that States have taken to increase legibility is simply to increase the letter heights on guide and street name signs. The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) provides the minimum requirements for letter...
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