Charles Musselwhite

Rural car dependence: an emerging barrier to community activity for older people

Community activity is a key contributor to quality of life for many older people. It also plays a role in the well-being of the communities they live in. Mobility, though, is central to such activity, and thus a conceptual link is proposed between ‘mobility capital’ and wider community sustainability. In developed nations older people comprise a growing share of rural populations and thus are of increasing importance to rural community sustainability, yet their mobility can be problematic. The paper contends that mobility is further compromised by an increasing focus on the car as the rural transport solution. To explore this hypothesis, the community interactions of a sample of rural elders living in Southwest England and Wales is examined, drawing on a survey and semi-structured interviews. Key findings were the localised nature of most journeys and the wide range of transport modes used. Although car availability was important, it was not a panacea. Given the importance of community activities to individuals and their communities it is concluded that more emphasis should be placed in rural transport policy on facilitating short-range travel for social purposes, including walking, cycling and the use of mobility scooters.

Exploring older drivers’ perceptions of driving

This research uses grounded theory to assess the driving needs of 29 older car drivers using four data collection techniques (two waves of focus groups, an interview and a driver diary). Findings suggest that older drivers view themselves as having better driving skills and attitude towards driving compared to when they were younger and compared to other drivers. In addition, they have a good ability to adapt to their changing physiology. Nevertheless, they report difficulty in assessing their own driving ability and cite they would like help to increase self-awareness about the driving task. In addition, the participants report having increasing difficulty in not having enough time to read, compute and comprehend road signs, maintaining a constant speed at the speed-limit, increased tiredness and fatigue and increased sensitivity to glare. The findings suggest given an iterative, qualitative methodology where driving issues are focused upon, older drivers can become more self-aware of their driving limitations and discuss these aspects in the context of ageing physiology.

Understanding how transport choices are affected by the environment and health: views expressed in a study on the use of carbon calculators.

OBJECTIVES To examine the influence that the provision of environmental information might be able to make on personal travel behaviour through analysis of the views of members of the public expressed in a study for the UK Department for Transport on attitudes towards carbon calculator tools. STUDY DESIGN A three-stage qualitative survey taking an ideographic approach to analysing public attitudes to the use of carbon calculator tools in relation to making transport decisions. METHODS Interviews and discussion groups with stakeholders, non-users and users providing extensive data that were analysed using the British Market Research Bureaus matrix mapping methodology. RESULTS Despite considerable awareness of climate change as an issue, personal carbon emissions were not found to have much influence on personal transport choice, which could be seen as being dominated by issues of cost (both in time and money), comfort and convenience. CONCLUSIONS The spatial and temporal dislocation of the cause and effects of climate change make it difficult to link the impacts of personal travel behaviour with specific activities. If environmental- and health-based information is to be provided as a lever to change travel behaviour, it may be necessary to provide information on issues such as local air pollution and personal health impacts in order to link wider benefits with a travel users self-interest.

The Attitudes, Perceptions and Concerns of Pedestrians and Vulnerable Road Users to Shared Space: A Case Study from the UK

The concept of shared space is increasingly being incorporated into urban areas in the UK, promoting a major change in the way streets are designed. Shared space is a design feature that aims to encourage pedestrians, cyclists and drivers to share the same deregulated space. However, there is a lack of evidence underpinning shared space, in terms of attitudes and usability, particularly for vulnerable road users including blind and partially sighted, elderly and wheelchair users. This research used street accessibility audits and focus groups with vulnerable pedestrians and 100 completed on-street questionnaires to investigate attitudes and behaviour towards a shared space scheme in Hereford, UK. The findings have shown that despite being very positive towards the scheme, particularly in terms of aesthetics, pedestrians and vulnerable road users had a number of issues and concerns with the design and usability of Widemarsh Street, in particular with nuances of design including the kerbs and vehicular access to the street.

Exploring the importance of discretionary mobility in later life

Purpose Travel and mobility for older people has typically focussed on the practical benefits to the individual, for example, in meeting utilitarian needs of shopping, appointments and staying connected to family and friends. However, previous research has hinted that travel for its own sake, to get out and about and feel and experience mobility, may be just as important for older people and is especially missed when individuals give-up driving. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This paper examines travel for its own sake, usually referred to as discretionary travel, interviewing 20 older people in each of three different contexts: for drivers, for community transport users and for non-drivers who receive lifts from family and friends. Findings Older people not only enjoy discretionary travel, but also feel it is beneficial to their health and wellbeing. The car and especially driving, is seen as the best way to fulfil discretionary travel. Community transport users do fulfil discretionary travel needs but these are over formalised and lack spontaneity affecting feelings of control and identity. Receiving lifts from family and friends can often result in older people feeling a burden to the providers of the lifts especially when travel is viewed as discretionary. Practical implications More needs to be done to ensure discretionary travel needs are met for those without cars, highlighting the importance of such travel to community transport providers and helping reduce the feeling of being a burden to family and friends. Originality/value Policy, practice and research has tended to focus on transport as a means to an end. However, older people themselves value mobility just as much for its own sake and just to view nature. Such discretionary reasons for mobility are actually very important for health and wellbeing of older people and need more attention.

Environment–person interactions enabling walking in later life

Traditionally, theory suggests the ageing individual is strongly influenced by the environment and has difficulties in overcoming distance and space. Recently, however, theory has moved to suggest that older people possess greater agency, being more capable of selecting and mastering their environments and spaces according to their needs and preferences. This paper suggests that both opposing theories are correct for differing groups. Observations and surveys of older people (n = 365) in public space examined how far person–environment agency is present in active use of outdoor space, measured by confidence to use and explore space, in three locations (urban shopping centres, suburban residential area and an area of shared space). In all three areas, dominance of the space was associated with being male and having higher levels of reported health, confidence and higher socio-economic status. Only 11% of participants walked at least as fast as the UK department for transport guidance on crossing speeds.

Equine road user safety: Public attitudes, understandings and beliefs from a qualitative study in the United Kingdom

Horse riders represent a significant group of vulnerable road user and are involved in a number of accidents and near misses on the road. Despite this horse riders have received little attention both in terms of academic research and transport policy. Based on literature on vulnerable road user safety, including attitudes to road user safety and behaviour of drivers and their relationship with cyclists and motorcyclists, this paper examines the attitudes and reported behaviour of drivers and horse riders. A total of 46 participants took part in six focus groups divided into four groups of drivers with little or no horse riding experience and two groups of frequent horse riders. Each group investigated five key topic areas stemming from the literature review on vulnerable road users including hazard perception, risk perception, emotion, attitudes to sharing the road and empathy. It was found that drivers and horse riders are not always aware of the same hazards in the road and that this may lead drivers to under-estimate the risk when encountering horses. Drivers often had good intentions to overtake horses safely, but were unaware of how vulnerable passing very wide and slow made them feel until they had begun the manoeuvre and hence quickly reduced such feelings either by speeding up or cutting in too soon. However, other than this, drivers had good skills when encountering horses. But these skills could be impeded by frustration when encountering a slow moving horse which was further compounded by a feeling, mainly by younger drivers, that horse riding was for leisure and as such should not get in the way of necessary work journeys. There is a need for drivers to be more aware of the potential hazards a horse rider faces on the road and these could be achieved through inducing empathy amongst drivers for horse riders, creating nudges for drivers in the environment and better education for drivers.

Older People’s External Residential Assessment Tool (OPERAT): a complementary participatory and metric approach to the development of an observational environmental measure

BackgroundThe potential for environmental interventions to improve health and wellbeing has assumed particular importance in the face of unprecedented population ageing. However, presently observational environmental assessment tools are unsuitable for ‘all ages’. This article describes the development of the Older People’s External Residential Assessment Tool (OPERAT).MethodsPotential items were identified through review and consultation with an Expert Advisory Group. Items were ranked according the importance ascribed to them by older people who responded to a survey distributed by 50+ forum in Wales (N = 545). 40 highly ranked items were selected for the OPERAT pilot. An observational assessment was conducted in 405 postcodes in Wales. Items validated with data from a survey of older residents (N = 500) in the postcode areas were selected for statistical modelling (Kendall’s Tau-b, p < .05). Data reduction techniques (exploratory factor analysis with Geomin rotation) identified the underlying factor structure of OPERAT. Items were weighted (Thurstone scaling approach) and scores calculated for each domain. Internal consistency: all items were tested for scale-domain total correlation (Spearman’s rank). Construct validity: correlation analysis examined the associations between domains and the extent to which participants enjoyed living in the area, felt that it was a desirable place to live, or felt safe at night or during the day (Spearman’s rank). Usability: analysis of variance compared mean OPERAT domain scores between neighbourhoods that were homogenous in terms of (a) deprivation (quintiles of the Townsend Index) and (b) geographic settlement type. Inter-rater reliability: Krippendorff’s alpha was used to evaluate inter-rater consistency in ten postcode areas.ResultsA four factor model was selected as the best interpretable fit to the data. The domains were named Natural Elements, Incivilities and Nuisance; Navigation and Mobility; and Territorial Functioning. Statistical tests demonstrated good internal consistency, convergent validity, utility and inter-rater reliability.ConclusionsParticipatory approaches to research and robust statistical testing are not mutually exclusive. OPERAT can be used to assess the suitability of external residential environments for older people with different physical and cognitive capacities, living in rural or urban areas. OPERAT can be used to help plan residential environments that are friendly for all ages.

Assessment of computer-based training packages to improve the safety of older people’s driver behaviour

ABSTRACT Examination of police records in Wales (STATS19 database) suggests older drivers are over represented in collisions turning across traffic and those involving failure to look properly, failure to judge the other vehicle or person’s path and performing a poor manoeuvre. A convened expert group suggests this is due to changes in attention, cognitive overload, processing speed, perceptual speed, working memory, task switching and eyesight associated with ageing. Training using computer-based packages can improve these cognitive and physiological issues associated with age. Performance on Useful Field of View (UFoV), Delayed Recall, Maze test and Dual N task computer tasks have all been shown to be related to number of crashes older drivers have. Of these only UFOV and Dual N task training improvements have been demonstrated to translate into improved driver behaviour, but overall more research is needed.

Public and Community Transport

Abstract 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.