Attitudes and behaviour of elderly in cognisance of transport safety when navigating pedestrian facilities

Abstract

The number of accidents involving elderly pedestrians has been increasing from year to year, in spite of various road safety initiatives having been implemented. In line with Singapore’s ageing population, this presents a worrying trend. This study aims to shed light on possible contributing factors via a human factors analysis. A preliminary investigation was first conducted at traffic junctions identified to have a greater occurrence of accidents involving elderly pedestrians and motorists. This preliminary investigation looked into the efficacy of infrastructure-oriented solutions in reducing the occurrence of such accidents. It was observed that infrastructure alone was inadequate in ensuring safety of elderly pedestrians. Next, a questionnaire was administered in order to gain information regarding traits, attitudes and behaviours pertinent to traffic safety. Subsequently, structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data via exploratory, confirmatory and path analysis. This was followed by an in-depth discussion which explored the relationship between the latent constructs of traits, attitudes and behaviours, as well as social demographic variables such as age, gender and education level. It was found that poor cognitive ability and poor attitudes towards transport safety were both positively correlated with unsafe behaviour; strong psychosocial beliefs were positively correlated with poor attitudes towards transport safety, but negatively correlated with unsafe behaviour. The study concludes with recommendations to improve traffic outcomes for the elderly.