Older pedestrians - Walk With Care program

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Over the last 5 years, 1 in every 6 road deaths in South Australia was a pedestrian. The age group most involved were people aged 60 and over.

Crashes involving older pedestrians occur mainly on routine trips to local shops and recreation activities – often within one kilometre of the person’s home.

Walk with Care is a road safety program that aims to reduce the death and injury rates for pedestrians aged between 60 – 90 years by working with groups of older people and community members. Download the series of useful safety tips they have developed.

Figure 1 South Australian pedestrian fatalities per 100 000 population

Why are older pedestrians at higher risk?
Their higher rates of death and serious injury may be due to:

• deteriorating hearing, vision or balance
• reduced mobility and slower reaction times due to age
• greater physical vulnerability
• medications that may cause dizziness, drowsiness or impaired judgment.

What can be done to reduce this?
The Walk with Care program brings older pedestrians, community groups and staff from Transport SA and Local Government together to:

• discuss local road safety issues and concerns
• identify the risks for older pedestrians
• reduce road dangers through engineering improvements
• increase road safety awareness through education.

What sort of solutions?
As well as providing advice, solutions may include:

• push button pedestrian crossings or increasing the green “Walk” time
• kerbside ramps or kerb extensions which narrow the width of road to be crossed
• traffic islands at intersections to help pedestrians cross the road and prevent motorists from cutting corners
• repairs to footpaths, wheelchair ramps and potholes
• trimming trees and vegetation to improve visibility.

What is in the program?
The program provides information on safety hints for older pedestrians and small group discussions. These sessions are conducted at local venues and provide older residents with the opportunity to discuss safety issues, as well as problems experienced with local roads.

Through the group discussion sessions and 'Walk with Care' travel surveys, the program helps identify 'problem' locations for investigation by the relevant government authority - Transport SA for its roads and the Local Council for their roads and footpaths.

Some of these strategies also benefit another high risk group among pedestrians — those with impaired mobility or hearing.

Useful tips and safety hints to download
A series of Useful tips and safety hints have been developed as part of the Walk with Care program and are available on the following links:

1 Walking with care
2 Walking with care and being seen
3 Walking with care at traffic lights
4 Walking with care at roundabouts
5 Walking with care and using refuges and medians
6 Pedestrians with impaired hearing or vision – being aware of your capabilities
7 Pedestrians with reduced mobility – being aware of your capabilities

Other Important Information
For more information about TransAdelaide’s wheelchair accessible services contact TransAdelaide Help Desk at 08 8218 2362.

To arrange a TransAdelaide companion officer to visit retirement villages and answer questions about public transport, accompany groups on bus trips or plan bus outings for them contact TransAdelaide Help Desk at 08 8218 2362.