Most older pedestrians unable to cross the road in time

The ability to cross a road in time is one that most of us take for granted. A new UCL study published in the journal Age and Ageing , entitled 'Most Older Pedestrians are unable to cross the road in time: a cross-sectional study', has compared the walking speed of the older population in the UK (aged 65 and over) with the speed required to use a pedestrian crossing. The research, led by Laura Asher of UCL Epidemiology & Public Health, found that the mean walking speed of participants in the Health Survey for England was 0.9 meters per second for older men and 0.8 meters per second for older women. This is significantly slower than the 1.2 meters per second required to use a pedestrian crossing in the UK and many other parts of the world. As age increased in the participants, the speed at which they could walk also decreased. Overall, 76% of men and 85% of women had a walking speed that was below the required speed of 1.2 meters per second. The research also found that 93% of women and 84% of men had walking impairment.