Transport, Travel and Later Life: Volume 10

Countries across the globe are seeing both an ageing population and an increase in mobility. This chapter looks at how society deals with an ageing population that also wants or needs to be mobile. Lack of mobility is synonymous with poorer health and wellbeing, with research suggesting it can lead to loneliness, isolation and even death. Hence, it seems appropriate to keep older people as mobile as later on in life as possible. The car is often seen as the panacea to this, but older people are the group most likely to have to give-up driving. How society provides alternatives to the car depends on how mobility is viewed. This chapter argues that we need to see older people’s mobility as a human issue, understanding their needs and realising there are affective and emotive relationships between people and mobility. We still provide mobility for older people based purely on functional journeys to hospitals, services and shops. Yet research suggests mobility to connect people, for a day out, for leisure purposes and for its own sake are vital to the wellbeing of older people. Services for older people need to recognise this and provide for it and there are some good examples in the community but these are too few and far between. Additionally, because transport is seen as functional for older people, there is a lack of emphasis on the aesthetic or on providing attractive services for older people, as if this isn’t important to older people. Finally, mobility doesn’t always have to be literal for older people and there is an argument that needs can be met through potential, virtual and imaginative mobility.

As people age they tend to do more local journeys, shown by a lower mean trip length, from around 50 years onward. One reason for this is increased difficulty with mobility as people age; around one-third of those aged over 70 have mobility difficulties. Physiological changes in later life that have consequences for travel include deterioration of hearing and seeing, decreased skeletal muscles and reduced mobility of joints. Another reason for the decrease seen in many western countries is retirement from work, with many fewer trips made for commuting purposes. However, there are increases in shopping, personal business and leisure trips when commuting is reduced. That said, older people would still like to make more discretionary journeys in later life, especially to visit family and friends more often. A review of literature suggests how important mobility is for wellbeing through social interaction and being involved in activities outside the home.

Changes in physiology associated with ageing mean increased concern for the safety of older drivers and the risk they may pose on other road users. The risk of older drivers is distorted by their fragility; they are more likely to be injured or die in road collisions compared to a younger person. Older drivers are, overall, safe drivers who pose similar risks to other road users as middle-aged drivers, but who are at risk themselves because of their fragility. The fragility is greater in older females than older men; females over the age of 80 are nine times more likely to die from their injuries compared to 40–49-year old females, while men are at least five times more likely. Older drivers are overrepresented in collisions at junctions that have no formal traffic control and underrepresented in crashes that involve excess speed. While it is not possible to put traffic signals in every junction, it is suggested consideration be given to mini roundabouts or three-way stop-sign junctions (as found in United States and South Africa). There is no evidence that stringent testing for licence renewal has advantages in reducing older driver risk. Assessments at specialist centres, such as mobility assessment centres, are a more effective way to pick up drivers who are no longer safe to drive.

Old age is a complex and dynamic phenomenon. The relationship between old age and transport is also very complex due to the heterogeneity within this age group. Yet what is certain is that with age, a person’s functional abilities change. This chapter provides a summary of how older people can be vulnerable within the road environment. Using an established framework for understanding old-age vulnerabilities, this chapter explains the common exposure factors and threats that several older people face in the transport environment. These primarily deal with individual physical and cognitive characteristics, medical conditions as well as the appropriateness (or not) of infrastructure. Subsequently, common difficulties for older drivers, pedestrians and public transport users are discussed. The main vulnerabilities that result from such difficulties are related to an over-representation of older people in accidents and to a lower quality of life due to mobility inefficiencies. Yet, using the same framework, the compensation techniques that older people often adopt to minimise such limitations are also highlighted. Reference is also made to the issues related to the lack of awareness in old age and the corresponding inability to compensate. The review concludes by suggesting a way forward for further studies on transport vulnerability in later life.

The population of older people in the ‘western world’ is increasing both in number, as well a percentage of the overall population. Changes in lifestyle as a result of increased longevity and better health and social care mean that older people are being mobile later on in their life than ever before. This qualitative study adopts an iterative and grounded theory approach to eliciting and generating the travel needs of older drivers through in-depth qualitative research with 26 older car drivers and 31 ex-car drivers. The findings suggest three levels of travel needs, these being; practical, psychosocial and aesthetic. At a primary level, practical needs encompass day-to-day, functional and utilitarian travel needs. The secondary level, psychosocial needs, include a sense of control and independence, enhancing status and defining (personal and social) roles. The tertiary level are aesthetic needs, such as travel for pleasure and for enjoyment. Psychosocial and aesthetic needs are less obvious to the participants themselves, but arguably are of equal importance as practical needs. However, less provision is made for older people in meeting these needs when they give-up driving. This has implications for design of travel services for older people: highlighting the importance to place emphasis not only on practical aspects of travel, but also on meeting psychosocial and aesthetic needs.

Bus use in later life tends to increase, especially in countries where there is cheaper or free travel on buses for older people. That said, there are still many barriers to bus use. The most major barrier for older people is feeling unsafe on the bus, especially at night. Accessibility issues are also important, with concerns for step-free access and getting a seat. A bus driver driving off before the older person has sat down is another major concern for older people. The presence of a friendly helpful, understanding bus driver is seen as a huge benefit for older people. Training to support bus drivers in providing an age friendly service are therefore highly recommended. In many countries, public transport is supplemented by community transport offering a door-to-door on demand facility to help older people stay mobile where there is a lack of accessible public buses. There are real advantages for older people using such buses, especially creating a safe environment taking older people to important places, such as hospitals or shops. Such services can be supplemented by journeys for days out and these are very popular with users. Older people aren’t large users of railway services. Barriers include concerns over getting a seat, worry about what happens if connections are missed and services are disrupted. Older people are more likely to want staff to help them complete their journey and emphasise the need for seats, cleanliness and facilities over journey length and cost.

Active travel, such as walking and cycling, has direct physical health benefits for older people. However, there are many barriers to walking and cycling including issues with the maintenance of pavements, sharing the path with other users, lack of public seating and benches, proximity of speeding traffic and narrow pavements. To create better public spaces, it is important to consider safety and accessibility of the public realm but also elements such as character, legibility, adaptability and diversity. The aesthetics of space cannot be overlooked too, in order to attract older people to use the public realm. Issues such as shared space pose different challenges for older people, though research would suggest if traffic volumes are low then sharing space with other users improves for older people.

Decision makers and authorities largely ignore cycling when conceptualising and developing programmes to support older mobility and therefore, unsurprisingly, levels of cycling in the United Kingdom are low compared to other northern European nations. Cycling has the potential to play an important role in the active ageing agenda and provide older citizens with a form of independent mobility that enhances personal health and wellbeing. The chapter provides evidence of the important role cycling does and could play in older people’s mobility and outlines ways in which older cycling could be supported and promoted.

The ageing process impact negatively on driving ability and behaviour, increasing the likelihood of accidents. Traditionally, research tends to have been top-down and as such misses the needs, motivations and attitudes of the drivers themselves. This research worked in-depth with a small number of older drivers using a grounded theory approach to elicit their needs and requirements with regards to the driving task. It identified a number of issues that previous research had highlighted, including shortened reaction times, increased fatigue and problems with glare but in addition emphasised some novel issues, including maintaining the vehicle speed at a consistent level and issues with distraction. The role new technology has in meeting such needs is briefly discussed.

There are many cognitive training tests purporting to both measure older people’s cognitive performance, several of which come with associated training that are deemed to improve cognition. This chapter describes cognitive tests that have been claimed to be linked to driver behaviour, and that training on them could improve driver behaviour. Of special interest are tests that could be completed at home on a computer, as it is suggested this could capture many individuals who are worried about attending a driver assessment centre and are not likely to be referred. Findings suggest that UFOV (Useful Field of View) Time Making Trail (A and B) and Dual N have research suggesting that training on them could improve driver performance for older drivers. However, the robustness of the research is debateable. There are also two physiological tests – a neck and shoulder and a general fitness test that also show promising results for improving driver performance. In addition, education and training is purported to improve driver behaviour, but although there is positive feedback from older people who attend and some short-term improvements, research on long-term improvements on driver behaviour are not yet evident. Overall, there are promising results from individual cognitive, physiological tests and from education and training suggesting that reflection on action and feedback from the task is important to improving driver performance but more research is needed.

There is clear and robust evidence of the importance of going outdoors to the health and wellbeing of older people. However, modern technologies have enabled more and more of the outside world to be brought inside. Though, it can be hypothesised that this is a poor substitute for literally being outdoors, little is understood as to why this is, not how much of the outdoors could be re-presented indoors to give benefits. This chapter briefly gives examples of how new technologies can bring the outdoors inside and potential advantages of doing that to help older people stay connected to other people and the outside world. It highlights what is still missing from literally engaging with the outdoor world, for example the social connection with other people, random-chance encounters with others, over reliance on visual representation and a lack of control. The absence of the mundane in many of the re-presentations of the outdoor world is also evident and this appears to be important in literal interactions with the outside world. Nevertheless, there appears to be great promise in connecting people to the outside world without literally having to go outdoors, especially for those with mobility impairments who are unable to get out and about.

Improvements in digital technology, increased automation and the sharing economy are all promised changes in transport provision over the next few years. How will such changes effect an increasing ageing society? There are obvious advantages that technology can bring to improve tickets on public transport with smartcards which will help older people. Trip planning can be facilitated with better more bespoke travel information and improved satnav and real-time information. Mobility scooters, electronic bikes and better inclusive designed cars and buses all help the offering to older people to maintain their mobility. Internet-based platforms facilitate collective transport offerings and can facilitate community transport and transport networks which help older people stay mobile. Supporting policy and legislation can help older people achieve quality mobility, for example accessibility has increased step-free access to public transport across Europe, though there remains still some inaccessibility especially where modification of existing infrastructure remains a costly barrier.