Marked Crosswalks Aren't Enough to Protect Seniors

Accident rate higher when there are no signs or signals

TUESDAY, Nov. 5, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Marking crosswalks to provide a safe path across the street endanger elderly pedestrians if the lines aren't accompanied by stop signs or signals to slow traffic, a new study shows.

Marked crosswalks in general double the risk that older pedestrians will be struck by an oncoming vehicle, the study found. However, that risk is the result of a near-quadrupling in collisions at intersections with pavement markings but nothing else to tell cars to halt, say the researchers, who report their findings in tomorrow's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The crosswalks give older pedestrians "a false sense of security," says Dr. Thomas Koepsell, a University of Washington epidemiologist and lead author of the study.

Experts say efforts to make marked crosswalks safer, by installing stop signs and signals at dangerous intersections, could reduce accidents involving seniors. On wider roads, median strips can also prevent pedestrian injuries.

People aged 65 and older made up 21 percent of the nation's 4,739 pedestrian deaths in 2000.

The latest study looked at 282 pedestrian accidents involving people 65 and older in six Pacific Coast cities, including Seattle, Tacoma and Los Angeles between 1995 and 1999. Of those, most involved injuries and 20 were fatal. It also included information from 594 nearby intersections, such as foot and vehicle traffic, length of the crosswalk and the presence of signals.

The researchers used video cameras to monitor traffic flows, and found the perilous intersections had on average about 50 percent more pedestrians.

About two-thirds (68 percent) of the intersections where accidents had occurred had a marked crosswalk, compared with 49 percent of the safer zones, the researchers say.

After considering factors such as foot and vehicle traffic and the width of the street, an elderly pedestrian's risk of being struck was 3.6 times higher at marked but otherwise unprotected crossings.

Charlie Zegeer, associate director of the Highway Safety Research Center at the University of North Carolina, says his own research has shown similar results. However, Zegeer says, the risk of a marked crosswalk depends largely on the width of the street it spans and the volume of vehicle traffic the road holds.

Marked crossings on two-lane roads that support fewer than 10,000 cars a day aren't especially dangerous, says Zegeer, whose group analyzed 2,000 intersections in 30 cities nationwide. But those on wide streets with higher volumes have more pedestrian strikes, he says.

"On these wide streets, as volume gets higher, there needs to be more than two lines of paint across the street to make for a safe crossing," Zegeer says. Installing median strips that allow walkers to watch only one direction of traffic at a time can make a dent in the accident rate at these areas, he adds.

Some communities have experimented with a cheap form of pedestrian safety called self-flagging crosswalks, which have a box or quiver containing brightly colored flags on either side. A pedestrian holds the flag while crossing so as to be better seen, and places the flag in the box on the other side. Officials know some flags get stolen, but they're easily replaced and theft is less likely an issue in neighborhoods where a lot of seniors live.

Pedestrian deaths have been dropping steadily over the last three decades, down 51 percent between 1975 and 2000, says Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The decline has been even greater among the elderly, for whom pedestrian fatalities are down 60 percent during the same period.

In addition to roadway design changes, other strategies can safeguard walkers, Rader says. One of these is making daylight savings time a year-round policy. Adding an extra hour of afternoon light could prevent 180 deadly wrecks, 80 percent of them involving pedestrians, Rader says.

What To Do

For more on the safety of older pedestrians, try the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center. You can also visit the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Related Stories

No stories found.
logo
www.healthday.com