Out with the old: New road signs warn of elderly pedestrians

As we become older and more frail, the risk to us from road danger increases dramatically.

Those aged 65-84 are less likely to be involved in road traffic collisions than children, but when there are, they are three times more likely to be killed.

The statistics are startling. 5470 children in 2013 were the victims of road traffic collisions and 21 were killed. This equates to 1.5 casualties and 0.03 fatalities per 10,000 children. By contrast, of 2,503 people aged 65 – 84 who were struck by vehicles, 94 were killed – a figure that equates to 0.10 fatalities per 10,000 (Source: Stats19 and ONS).

Today’s cars do a very effective job of cocooning drivers from the outside world. Insulated from the world outside, how best to remind motorists that they pose a potentially deadly risk to vulnerable road users – in particular, the elderly.

News site, Spring Chicken, thinks it has the answer  at least in part: We don’t think the current sign – with its sad and decrepit couple crossing the road – does justice to the fantastic creativity, energy, curiosity and sheer vim of the older people that we meet. So we worked with our good friends NB Studio, who asked some of the world’s best-known designers to have another go, and the results have been fantastic. They range from the quite beautiful to the downright silly, but there are one or two in the collection that we hope might end up as the new sign.

Some of the many alternative road signs they dreamt up with are at the top the page, but there are many more at springchicken.co.uk/signofthetimes

DIY road signs

Residents in the town of Wiveton in Norfolk who wanted to reduce the number or traffic accidents caused by speeding drivers have taken matters into their own hands and erected unofficial road signs written in local dialect that reads ‘Slow You Down‘. The villagers have the support of language campaigners who want to preserve the county’s vernacular. Norfolk County Council says the sign is unauthorised, but that there are no plans to remove it.

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