Road Safety Engineering and Senior Drivers

道路安全工程和老年驾驶员***虽然人们对驾驶私人机动车辆的老年驾驶员的表现不佳给予了很多关注，但对他们在与牵引车挂车、公交巴士（城市和城际）和校车等商用车相关的高工作量环境中的安全经验了解甚少。驾驶任务的复杂性增加，加上无法自我调节（例如，避开交通高峰时段、恶劣天气和夜间时间），这在私家车的资深司机中很常见。一个特别令人关切的问题是，最近加拿大大多数司法管辖区废除了针对校车司机的强制性退休政策。现在，所有商业司机都有可能在65岁的传统退休年龄之后继续工作。本研究将按年龄队列检查不同类别商业司机的安全性能，试图量化在老年群体中假定的安全性能恶化。这些结果将有利于支持针对老年司机持续就业的政策和/或对策。***研究项目的另一个目标是研究老年驾驶员的碰撞参与度如何对车辆技术和道路工程的变化做出反应。虽然有许多研究对不同年龄段的全球碰撞结果进行了研究，但随着驾驶环境的迅速变化，包括车辆设计、交通控制和道路基础设施的进步，人们对老年人的演变知之甚少。有必要了解这些变化是如何影响驾驶员碰撞风险以及整体出行机动性的，以便工程师和政策制定者能够应对不断变化的需求。****根据本提案进行的第二项研究将涉及学校区域安全的一般领域，以利用研究人员在道路安全工程领域的专业知识。虽然很多人都在努力解决所谓的安全路线上学问题，但用于划定学校区域和区域的交通管制措施通常不是建立在观察到的安全表现基础上的。人们对学校区域内的碰撞体验了解甚少，但目前在城市和农村环境中，对速度显示装置等特殊交通控制措施的需求很大。＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Road Safety Engineering and Senior Drivers***While there has been much attention directed to the under-performance of older drivers operating private motor vehicles, little is understood regarding their safety experience in settings that involve higher workloads associated with commercial vehicles such as tractor-trailers, transit buses (urban and inter-city), and school buses. Increased complexity of the driving task is compounded with an inability to self-regulate (e.g., avoid peak traffic periods, inclement weather and night-time hours) which is common among senior drivers of private vehicles. A particular concern has been the recent abolition of mandatory retirement policies in most Canadian jurisdictions that were directed toward school bus drivers. It is now possible for all commercial drivers to continue working beyond the traditional retirement age of 65 years. This study will examine the safety performance of different categories of commercial drivers by age cohort in an attempt to quantify the presumed deterioration of safety performance among the older age groups. These results will be beneficial to support policies and/or countermeasures that target the on-going employment of senior drivers.***Another objective of the research program will examine how senior driver crash involvement is responding to changes in vehicle technology and road engineering. While a number of studies have looked at global crash results by different age cohorts, little is understood about the evolution of seniors as the driving environment rapidly changes to include advances in vehicle design, traffic control, and road infrastructure. It is necessary to understand how these changes are affecting both driver crash involvement as well as overall travel mobility so that engineers and policy-makers can respond to changing needs. ****A second vein of research captured under this proposal will address the general area of school zone safety to exploit the researcher's expertise in the road safety engineering field. While much effort has addressed so-called safe routes to schools issues, the traffic control measures used to delineate school areas and zones is generally not founded on observed safety performance. Little is understood about collision experience within school zones, yet extraordinary traffic control measures such as speed display units are currently in high public demand in both urban and rural settings. ********