Patterns of Traffic Accidents Among Elderly Pedestrians in Sweden

The objective of this study is to characterize the nature and space-time patterns of traffic accidents involving elderly pedestrians in Sweden, in order to suggest preventive measures. The analysis is based on elderly pedestrian accidents from 2010 to 2014 using an age adjusted standardized elderly accidents ratios (ASEAR), Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and spatial statistics techniques. Findings show that the geography of elderly traffic accidents is far from being homogenous across the country: although most accidents happen in urban municipalities, 30 per cent of municipalities classified as accessible rural exhibit relatively high-standardized accidents ratios. They happen often in daylight hours, on weekdays and in the coldest months of the year. Most of the cases are single accidents (e.g. self-inflicted fall); they happen in street segments/intersections and pedestrian/bicycle path, some affected by environment conditions such as icy or uneven surfaces. Findings of the study call for preventive actions that are sensitive to the nature of these accidents in different temporal and spatial contexts.