Elderly pedestrian injuries in Singapore

ABSTRACT

During the last decade, traffic injury rates of pedestrians who are elderly in Singapore were more than twice of those for pedestrians of all ages. This article aims to identify the factors and situations influencing the injury severity of pedestrians who are elderly involved in vehicle–pedestrian crashes. Six years of crash data from 2003 to 2008 containing about 805 crashes of pedestrians who are elderly were analyzed. The injury severity was modeled as a function of roadway characteristics, traffic features, environmental factors, as well as driver and pedestrian characteristics using a random-parameter ordered probit model that accounts for unobserved heterogeneities in the population. Results show that the likelihood of fatal injury is higher during night time. Although the probabilities of fatal or serious injury are higher along high-speed roads and at three-legged intersections, the corresponding probabilities are lower if the crash involving pedestrians who are elderly happens at signalized intersections. Pedestrians who are elderly appear to be more involved in fatal and serious injury crashes when they attempt to cross the road away from any at-grade crossing facility or cross unlawfully within 50 m of grade-separated crossing facilities. Based on the findings of this study, specific countermeasures are recommended to improve safety of pedestrians who are elderly.

KEYWORDS:

• countermeasures
• elderly pedestrian safety
• ordered probit model
• random parameters
• Singapore

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the Singapore Traffic Police for providing the crash data of road traffic for the analysis. The findings of this article do not reflect the view of the Singapore Traffic Police.