Welcome
to the first issue of the
UC Berkeley Traffic Safety Center newsletter
This Issue: Older Adults and Safe Mobility
This newsletter was created
by the UC Berkeley Traffic Safety
Center (TSC) to disseminate important information
on traffic safety topics most relevant to communities in California.
The mission of the TSC is to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries
through multi-disciplinary collaboration in education, research, and
outreach. A main goal of the Center is to make traffic safety information
available and accessible to public and private organizations, agencies,
and businesses, and to individuals.
Each issue will focus on
a different area of traffic safety. This one addresses a topic that
has been widely discussed as a impending crisis: the safe mobility of
the aging population. With people over 60 expected to constitute up
to 25% of the U.S. population by 2025, there is concern among many
that we are not adequately prepared to handle the accompanying transportation
demands. In this issue of the newsletter you’ll find several articles
that examine the barriers to achieving safe mobility for older travelers,
as well as reports on current and planned methods for reducing those
barriers.
We invite your thoughts and
reactions to the topics presented here. Please use the send-us-your-comments
link at the end of each story and at the bottom of each sidebar
to email us your comments. We hope to include a “letters to the
editor” component in the next issue. If we think your comments
would be appropriate for such a forum, we will contact you about publishing
them.
The TSC newsletter will be
published four times a year. If you wish to be added to the mailing
list or taken off the mailing list, please send an email
to the TSC with "Mailing List" in the subject line and
a message telling us which action to take.
Special thanks to the young
people from the Asian Health Services leadership youth program and from
the Asian Youth Services Committee, a group under the direction of the
Oakland Police Dept., for the use of their pedestrian safety mural at
the top of this page. It is also available as a postcard. Email
Asian Health Services for more information.
Phyllis Orrick, Publications Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, 510-643-2591
Contributing Editors:
Toni Gantz, Program
Coordinator, Prevention Institute;
Leslie Mikkelsen,
Managing Director, Prevention Institute;
Tammy Wilder, Project
Coordinator, Traffic Safety Center
Editorial Committee:
David Ragland, Director, Traffic Safety Center
Larry Cohen, Director, Prevention Institute
Jill Cooper, Program Manager, Traffic Safety Center
Theodore E. Cohn, Professor of Optometry, UC Berkeley
Send us your comments or email a letter to the editor
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety
This
issue's stories:
How Older Adults Will Drive Transportation Policy
Safe mobility a key concern as the nation agesWhy Older Adults Don't Walk
Safer designs could encourage more pedestrian tripsScrambling for Safety
An unconventional crosswalk strategy to help Chinatown's older pedestriansAging Behind the Wheel
An epidemiological look at the older driverMaking Oakland Safer for Older Pedestrians
A multi-agency effort
Getting to the Heart of Aging and Mobility
National Conference on Aging and Mobility finds that transportation means more than just getting aroundThe California Task Force
A statewide traffic safety program for older adults is launchedLocal Transportation Programs
A look at some of the Community programs in California
