Initiative details
By 2050, the percentage of people over 50 in the European Union will be almost 50% of the total population. According to UN estimates, the average life expectancy will increase from the current 68 to 76 years, and in highly developed countries from 77 to 83 years. This group of road users will therefore grow, which consequently means that the statistical probability of crashes involving a senior will also increase.
According to data from the Motor Transport Institute in Poland, the main problems of Seniors leading to a crash are related to:
• undivided attention,
• incorrect perception of road situations,
• narrowing of the field of vision, poor contrast sensitivity and distance assessment,
• extended time of performing maneuvers, reaction time, eye-hand coordination.
The main causes of road crashes in Poland are:
• among Seniors driving cars - failure to give way at an intersection,
• among Seniors cycling - uncontrolled entry into a part of the roadway not designated for cyclists (pedestrian crossing),
• among Seniors walking - entering the roadway directly in front of an oncoming vehicle (often from behind an obstacle).
The social costs of all road incidents in Poland in 2022 amounted to PLN 52 billion, including the costs of road crashes PLN 37.9 billion and the costs of road collisions PLN 14.1 billion. In 2021, these costs were lower. The share of seniors in the cost statistics accounted for 9% of all road crashes and amounted to PLN 3.4 billion. The lower cost in the case of seniors results from the adopted assumptions regarding productivity and projected life expectancy. However, it should be borne in mind that society is "aging" and the number of seniors will increase. The life expectancy of seniors will also increase. These factors will undoubtedly affect changes in the proportions of the annual costs of road crashes in Poland.
According to data from the Motor Transport Institute in Poland, the main problems of Seniors leading to a crash are related to:
• undivided attention,
• incorrect perception of road situations,
• narrowing of the field of vision, poor contrast sensitivity and distance assessment,
• extended time of performing maneuvers, reaction time, eye-hand coordination.
The main causes of road crashes in Poland are:
• among Seniors driving cars - failure to give way at an intersection,
• among Seniors cycling - uncontrolled entry into a part of the roadway not designated for cyclists (pedestrian crossing),
• among Seniors walking - entering the roadway directly in front of an oncoming vehicle (often from behind an obstacle).
The social costs of all road incidents in Poland in 2022 amounted to PLN 52 billion, including the costs of road crashes PLN 37.9 billion and the costs of road collisions PLN 14.1 billion. In 2021, these costs were lower. The share of seniors in the cost statistics accounted for 9% of all road crashes and amounted to PLN 3.4 billion. The lower cost in the case of seniors results from the adopted assumptions regarding productivity and projected life expectancy. However, it should be borne in mind that society is "aging" and the number of seniors will increase. The life expectancy of seniors will also increase. These factors will undoubtedly affect changes in the proportions of the annual costs of road crashes in Poland.
Initiative date
Who was/is your target audience?
Seniors
Topic
Create awareness
Knowledge building and sharing
Training
Organisation details
Malopolska Wojewodzka Rada Bezpieczenstwa Ruchu Drogowego
Local Public authority
Poland
Malopolska
Contact name
Katarzyna Dobrzanska-Junco
Telephone number
+48663205779
k.dobrzanska-junco@mord.krakow.pl
Website link
Project activities
If you work together with external partners, list the most important partners and briefly describe their role.
Universities of the Third Age – small centers located in different places of the Malopolska region, gathering Seniors and offering them possibilities for education, development and improvement. Role in the project: cooperation within workshops and recruitment for driving trainings.
Glos Seniora – The Voice of Seniors journal – editor and entity that organizes events for Seniors in the whole country and promotes health and road safety within this group. Role in the project: cooperation within workshops and recruitment for driving trainings, promotion of the project and road safety within Seniors.
FEVR- European Federation of Road Traffic Victims, the initiator of World Day of Remembrance. Role in the project: cooperation within workshops regarding risk awareness and WDoR workshops.
Glos Seniora – The Voice of Seniors journal – editor and entity that organizes events for Seniors in the whole country and promotes health and road safety within this group. Role in the project: cooperation within workshops and recruitment for driving trainings, promotion of the project and road safety within Seniors.
FEVR- European Federation of Road Traffic Victims, the initiator of World Day of Remembrance. Role in the project: cooperation within workshops regarding risk awareness and WDoR workshops.
Please describe the project activities you carried/are carrying out and the time period over which these were implemented.
"Safe Senior" is a unique project addressed to drivers over 60. It started in September 2020 and is still ongoing. The project requires systematic approach towards Seniors and has been planned as a long-term project. It consists of few elements:
1. Practical training. A one day, free of charge professional practical training in safe driving techniques, carried out at a driving technique improvement center. The first part of the training is a theoretical part concerning road safety, updating new road safety rules and risk assessment based on discussion and case study. The practical training conducted by experts in driving techniques, include main thematic blocks: tight slalom, driving on the track, driving on slabs, emergency braking -emergency lane change. Seniors also used crash and rollover simulators. During the training, educational material is implemented using the peer-to-peer method, i.e. Seniors for Seniors - in which participants share their experience, feelings and give advice to their peers.
2. Workshops. A one day free of charge workshop for all Seniors from commune and small districts of Malopolska region. The workshops are organized with Universities of the Third Age for Seniors, all road users. The workshop is divided into 3 main parts: Seniors as Pedestrians, Seniors as Cyclists and Seniors as Drivers. The workshops take place in all region and are organized in cooperation with Głos Seniora – the mayor journal for Seniors in Poland, which helps also in promotion of road safety to all those seniors, that cannot attend the project. The meeting includes updates on the main road rules and main problems concerning this age group as well as the importance of the Seniors as ambassadors of road safety within their families and society. A very big part of the workshop is dedicated to health changes and aging.
Many changes occur in the human body as we age. Most of them have an adverse effect on road safety. Seniors lose their visual acuity, their field of vision narrows. They see worse after dark and are more sensitive to light, hearing problems and general physical fitness begin to appear. Irritability occurs more often when driving, concentration decreases, and reaction time to threats increases. Proper anticipation begins to be lacking, and complicated activities on the road grow to the rank of impossible to perform. The workshop also include the knowledge of how medications and medicine influence the capacity of reaction and well being as road users.
The real attraction of all workshops is the appearance of the Stylish Senior group – a group of Seniors promoting road safety with their fashion and style. They are volunteers and always support the Council with 15 minutes reflective fashion show.
3. Materials. The participants are offered two kind of materials prepared and dedicated for them: paper and on-line available leaflet „Safe Senior” with road safety tips for Seniors, as well as video spot „Safe Senior” dedicated to necessity of control of the health. It is worth mentioning, that the spot won the main award in UN Global Road Safety Festival in Marrakech as best educational road safety film in the world.
Additionally some of the events, as they were organized close to World Day of Remembrance, included road safety artistic workshops between Seniors and their grandchildren creating Flowers of Remembrance - flowers with road safety and remembrance message for exposition.
1. Practical training. A one day, free of charge professional practical training in safe driving techniques, carried out at a driving technique improvement center. The first part of the training is a theoretical part concerning road safety, updating new road safety rules and risk assessment based on discussion and case study. The practical training conducted by experts in driving techniques, include main thematic blocks: tight slalom, driving on the track, driving on slabs, emergency braking -emergency lane change. Seniors also used crash and rollover simulators. During the training, educational material is implemented using the peer-to-peer method, i.e. Seniors for Seniors - in which participants share their experience, feelings and give advice to their peers.
2. Workshops. A one day free of charge workshop for all Seniors from commune and small districts of Malopolska region. The workshops are organized with Universities of the Third Age for Seniors, all road users. The workshop is divided into 3 main parts: Seniors as Pedestrians, Seniors as Cyclists and Seniors as Drivers. The workshops take place in all region and are organized in cooperation with Głos Seniora – the mayor journal for Seniors in Poland, which helps also in promotion of road safety to all those seniors, that cannot attend the project. The meeting includes updates on the main road rules and main problems concerning this age group as well as the importance of the Seniors as ambassadors of road safety within their families and society. A very big part of the workshop is dedicated to health changes and aging.
Many changes occur in the human body as we age. Most of them have an adverse effect on road safety. Seniors lose their visual acuity, their field of vision narrows. They see worse after dark and are more sensitive to light, hearing problems and general physical fitness begin to appear. Irritability occurs more often when driving, concentration decreases, and reaction time to threats increases. Proper anticipation begins to be lacking, and complicated activities on the road grow to the rank of impossible to perform. The workshop also include the knowledge of how medications and medicine influence the capacity of reaction and well being as road users.
The real attraction of all workshops is the appearance of the Stylish Senior group – a group of Seniors promoting road safety with their fashion and style. They are volunteers and always support the Council with 15 minutes reflective fashion show.
3. Materials. The participants are offered two kind of materials prepared and dedicated for them: paper and on-line available leaflet „Safe Senior” with road safety tips for Seniors, as well as video spot „Safe Senior” dedicated to necessity of control of the health. It is worth mentioning, that the spot won the main award in UN Global Road Safety Festival in Marrakech as best educational road safety film in the world.
Additionally some of the events, as they were organized close to World Day of Remembrance, included road safety artistic workshops between Seniors and their grandchildren creating Flowers of Remembrance - flowers with road safety and remembrance message for exposition.
In terms of implementation, what worked well and what challenges did you need to overcome?
The first edition of this program took place in 2020. It turned out that there is a huge number of people over 60 who want to improve their skills and share their experience on the roads. Such openness and willingness to improve should be a model for many drivers of all ages. When we announced the project for the first time, there were not many interested persons but as soon as we started to cooperate with our partners - the Universities of the Third Age of all region, reaching very small towns and villages and their citizens, as well as with Glos Seniora (The voice of Senior) – the biggest journal for Seniors in Poland – we have received a lot of interest and new participants. Some of the Seniors were also afraid of participating the driving training and were afraid it would be connected to limitations of their possibilities to drive. The council prepared a very open communication to highlight that it was voluntary and created to support seniors. It highlighted why road safety trainings are so important for them and their families. The communication activities were very important for the project.
Evaluation
Please summarise how you have evaluated the initiative’s impact (e.g. social media reach, survey, feedback forms, statistics).
The project was evaluated by:
1. Number of participants.
2. Number social media reach.
3. Number of publications in journal for seniors.
4. Paper evaluation of the training and workshops (feedback forms).
It is worth mentioning, that the project reached nearly 2000 seniors yearly. The trainings were evaluated through feedback forms, checking the knowledge and awareness concerning the need of trainings and health control as well as its influence on driving. The number of publications in Senior journal – 5 articles yearly, number of social media reach – 10 publications yearly, almost 100 shares yearly. The „Safe Senior” movie- 4000 displays on YT, 1500 on social media.
It’s important to mark, that Poland received an award at the UN and World Health Organization World Road Safety Film Festival for the best educational film on road safety („Safe Senior”). The film was produced by the Małopolska Voivodeship Road Safety Council and shared worldwide (in 3 different languages). The awarded spot, "Safe Senior", is aimed at seniors, informs about the need to perform regular medical examinations and voluntary psychotechnical tests for drivers, emphasizes how important it is to check your health condition, and how to control the impact of diseases and medications we take on behavior and reaction time.
1. Number of participants.
2. Number social media reach.
3. Number of publications in journal for seniors.
4. Paper evaluation of the training and workshops (feedback forms).
It is worth mentioning, that the project reached nearly 2000 seniors yearly. The trainings were evaluated through feedback forms, checking the knowledge and awareness concerning the need of trainings and health control as well as its influence on driving. The number of publications in Senior journal – 5 articles yearly, number of social media reach – 10 publications yearly, almost 100 shares yearly. The „Safe Senior” movie- 4000 displays on YT, 1500 on social media.
It’s important to mark, that Poland received an award at the UN and World Health Organization World Road Safety Film Festival for the best educational film on road safety („Safe Senior”). The film was produced by the Małopolska Voivodeship Road Safety Council and shared worldwide (in 3 different languages). The awarded spot, "Safe Senior", is aimed at seniors, informs about the need to perform regular medical examinations and voluntary psychotechnical tests for drivers, emphasizes how important it is to check your health condition, and how to control the impact of diseases and medications we take on behavior and reaction time.
What has been the effect of the activities?
It is worth mentioning, that the project reached directly nearly 2000 seniors yearly, so overall approx. 8000 seniors from Malopolska region. Additionally a large number of seniors have been reached through journals and social media. The impact of the initiative started as local one, but ended in 2024 as national one (Malopolska Road Safety Council shared all know-how and experience from the region). The National Road Safety Council has decided to implement it in the whole country as a pilot project - especially the part of the project related to practical training and driving improvement. The government already announced that the project will be continued in 2025.
Statistics regarding Seniors in Poland: 2022: 590 fatal victims, 5365 injures, 2023: fatal victims 608, 5219 injured, 2024: 611 fatal victims, 5472 injured. For Małpolska region the statistics show in this period major improvement: Małopolska 2020: 157 fatal victims, 2024:117 fatal victims. Seniors in Małopolska: 2020: 36 fatal victims, 2023: 36 fatal victims, 2024: 30 fatal victims.
Statistics regarding Seniors in Poland: 2022: 590 fatal victims, 5365 injures, 2023: fatal victims 608, 5219 injured, 2024: 611 fatal victims, 5472 injured. For Małpolska region the statistics show in this period major improvement: Małopolska 2020: 157 fatal victims, 2024:117 fatal victims. Seniors in Małopolska: 2020: 36 fatal victims, 2023: 36 fatal victims, 2024: 30 fatal victims.
Please briefly explain why your initiative is a good example of improving road safety.
The project „Safe Senior” uses the peer-to-peer method, one of the most effective ones. The project is led by staff with psychological and pedagogical background, uses pro-active and positive approach to road safety, showing benefits, risks and possible consequences of road crashes. Encourages for voluntary decisions and observations. All elements of the projects evaluated and measured, in cooperation with 3 main entities.
How have you shared information about your project and its results?
All the projects led by Malopolska Road Safety Council have been shared since 2018 on official website of the organization: www.brd.malopolska.pl , as well as shared on official social media and / or Malopolska region info.
Supporting materials
