Highway Design Handbook for Older Drivers and Pedestrians

Staplin, L.; Lococo, K.; Byington, S.; Harkey, David L. · 2001 · ROSA P / Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center

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Summary

This document, the *Highway Design Handbook for Older Drivers and Pedestrians*, addresses the growing safety and mobility challenges posed by the aging U.S. population. With the number of drivers aged 65 and older projected to exceed 50 million by 2020, transportation engineers face increasing pressure to accommodate age-related declines in perceptual, cognitive, and psychomotor performance. The handbook aims to link these functional limitations to specific highway design, operational, and traffic engineering recommendations. It serves as a practical resource for practitioners, supplementing existing standards like the MUTCD and AASHTO Green Book, while emphasizing countermeasures that offer modest installation costs and potential lifecycle savings. The handbook was developed through a comprehensive synthesis of research findings, technical developments, and extensive feedback from practitioners. The authors updated a 1998 predecessor by incorporating new studies and integrating input from state, county, and municipal engineers who applied earlier recommendations in real-world case studies. The development process included a technology transfer initiative featuring practitioner workshops across the United States, which engaged over 500 state DOT staff members. These workshops provided critical feedback on handbook deficiencies and implementation strategies. The final recommendations are grounded in a review of human factors and highway safety research, prioritizing field studies involving older drivers, followed by laboratory simulations and general aging literature where a clear logical connection to highway contexts exists. The handbook organizes its recommendations around five primary site types: at-grade intersections, interchanges (grade separation), roadway curvature and passing zones, construction/work zones, and highway-rail grade crossings. At-grade intersections receive top priority due to their association with the most serious crash problems for older drivers. Specific design elements addressed include intersecting angles, receiving lane widths, channelization, sight-distance requirements, curb radii, and traffic control devices for left- and right-turn movements. The document also covers exit signing, acceleration/deceleration lane features, pavement markings on curves, and temporary signage in work zones. For each recommendation, the handbook provides supporting rationale and evidence, often cross-referencing standard design manuals to indicate compatibility. The significance of this work lies in its provision of actionable guidance to enhance highway safety for normally aging seniors, thereby supporting their independence and quality of life. The handbook does not constitute a mandatory standard but offers discretionary tools for preemptive safety enhancements or targeted "spot treatments" at crash sites. By focusing on the demonstrated performance deficits of older road users—such as diminished vision, slowed reaction times, and difficulty dividing attention—the document seeks to improve system safety and operational efficiency. The recommendations are designed to be feasible within current materials and practices, avoiding optimum solutions that incur extreme costs for minimal safety gains. Ultimately, the handbook aims to make the highway system more accessible and safer for older drivers and pedestrians, benefiting the broader driving population as well.

Key finding

The handbook provides specific design and operational recommendations for highway facilities to accommodate the perceptual, cognitive, and physical limitations of older road users.

Methodology

review

Provenance

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Topics

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• rail grade crossings
• roadway lighting effects
• perceptual countermeasures
• sign visibility legibility
• signage environment
• emergency work zone conspicuity

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Applied Guidance: design guidelines