Belgium
14 March 2024 17:30 – 18:15
La Bellone
Belgium
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In Belgium, as in Europe and large parts of the Western world, life expectancy is ever increasing. While this "aging" is made possible by very comprehensive preventive or curative health care, this certainly does not eliminate all the cognitive or motor impairments associated with aging. In addition, older people are also becoming increasingly mobile, and more specifically, they are using their own vehicle or car up to a higher age.
As people age, two risks that are often used in the context of road safety become important:
- Accident risk: the likelihood to be involved in an accident.
- Injury risk: the likelihood of injury, given an accident has occurred.
With this product, the senior selfTest, we focus on the triggers for accident risk with senior drivers.
Safe participation in traffic, in the context of an ageing population, presupposes two things: "driving skills" and "fitness to drive". Driving skills are strongly linked to learning processes, gaining experience, vehicle control and traffic insight. Fitness to drive has more to do with the physical and mental abilities of the driver: health, sensory and cognitive abilities, influence of alcohol, drugs or medication, etc.
Older road users usually have a very extensive mobility and traffic experience, and associated with that generally overall good driving skills. However, as drivers age, some of the mental and/or physical capacities needed to put those skills to good use gradually decrease. In other words, fitness to drive decreases. Examples are: reduced vision (sharpness, night blindness, etc.), poor hearing, higher reaction times, reduced muscle control or muscle strength, etc.
This decline in capacities is likely to proceed in two speeds. For most people it can be expected that this is a gradual process, which may also be partially absorbable or slowed down. Barring sudden illness and accidents, the decline in physical or mental functionality is a process of several decades. However, when looking at the oldest age categories, it can be expected that a quicker decrease in physical or mental functionality occurs as a result of (a higher likelihood of) more grave illnesses.
Although road users compensate for this natural decline in capacities to some extent (e.g. by driving less at night, driving slower, etc.), there is still a general risk that one's own skills and fitness to drive will be overestimated, or that a decline in skills and suitability will eventually go too fast. In other words, if a self-regulating compensation mechanism is used, it may not be enough to continue to drive “safely”. Different supporting measures need to be developed if we wish senior drivers to truly remain independently safely mobile.
With the SelfTest we present a product that aims at increasing awareness with senior drivers on the importance of psycho-cognitive factors and their own capacities in relation to accident risk, and therefor safe and comfortable driving.
The SelfTest, its development and use is described in the paragraph “project activities”.
The relevance towards improving road safety, compared to other actions taken to support safe driving by senior drivers, is described in the paragraph “evaluation”
As people age, two risks that are often used in the context of road safety become important:
- Accident risk: the likelihood to be involved in an accident.
- Injury risk: the likelihood of injury, given an accident has occurred.
With this product, the senior selfTest, we focus on the triggers for accident risk with senior drivers.
Safe participation in traffic, in the context of an ageing population, presupposes two things: "driving skills" and "fitness to drive". Driving skills are strongly linked to learning processes, gaining experience, vehicle control and traffic insight. Fitness to drive has more to do with the physical and mental abilities of the driver: health, sensory and cognitive abilities, influence of alcohol, drugs or medication, etc.
Older road users usually have a very extensive mobility and traffic experience, and associated with that generally overall good driving skills. However, as drivers age, some of the mental and/or physical capacities needed to put those skills to good use gradually decrease. In other words, fitness to drive decreases. Examples are: reduced vision (sharpness, night blindness, etc.), poor hearing, higher reaction times, reduced muscle control or muscle strength, etc.
This decline in capacities is likely to proceed in two speeds. For most people it can be expected that this is a gradual process, which may also be partially absorbable or slowed down. Barring sudden illness and accidents, the decline in physical or mental functionality is a process of several decades. However, when looking at the oldest age categories, it can be expected that a quicker decrease in physical or mental functionality occurs as a result of (a higher likelihood of) more grave illnesses.
Although road users compensate for this natural decline in capacities to some extent (e.g. by driving less at night, driving slower, etc.), there is still a general risk that one's own skills and fitness to drive will be overestimated, or that a decline in skills and suitability will eventually go too fast. In other words, if a self-regulating compensation mechanism is used, it may not be enough to continue to drive “safely”. Different supporting measures need to be developed if we wish senior drivers to truly remain independently safely mobile.
With the SelfTest we present a product that aims at increasing awareness with senior drivers on the importance of psycho-cognitive factors and their own capacities in relation to accident risk, and therefor safe and comfortable driving.
The SelfTest, its development and use is described in the paragraph “project activities”.
The relevance towards improving road safety, compared to other actions taken to support safe driving by senior drivers, is described in the paragraph “evaluation”
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Unsafety is the main reason for people not to cycle. What makes cycling unsafe? It can be due to both objective elements such as inappropriate infrastructure, but also subjective elements such as the behaviour of other road users. To get more people cycling, it is important to locate, identify and address both elements.
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Mobiliteit is een hot topic. Iedereen heeft er een mening over. Toch hebben mensen soms het gevoel dat ze onvoldoende geïnformeerd zijn om mee te praten in het mobiliteitsdebat en om mee na te denken over concrete oplossingen voor meer gezonde mobiliteit in hun buurt. Mobiliteitsjargon vormt zo een hindernis voor mensen om volwaardig te kunnen meepraten over een thema dat uiteindelijk iedereen aanbelangt.
Tijdens workshops, inspraakmomenten en begeleidingen met burgers kan je er niet zomaar vanuit gaan dat iedereen mee is met dat mobiliteitsjargon. Woorden als sluipverkeer of parkeermanagement krijgen al snel verschillende invullingen. Daarom besliste Mobiel 21 om enkele moeilijke woorden op een heldere manier uit te leggen in een reeks laagdrempelige en informatieve video’s met de naam ‘Mobiliteit voor Dummies’. Daarin geeft Glenn Godin, medewerker bij Mobiel 21 en verkeersdeskundige, met een grappige draai en de nadruk op duurzame oplossingen, een antwoord op vaak gestelde vragen. In een reeks met 7 verschillende filmpjes legt hij telkens een ander mobiliteitsbegrip op een heldere manier uit. De onderwerpen van de filmpjes zijn: De knip, fietsstraat, verkeer, schoolstraat, sluipverkeer, parkeren en wegencategorisering. Het zijn stuk voor stuk begrippen die vaak ter sprake komen, bijvoorbeeld wanneer gemeenten hun burgers betrekken bij de opmaak van nieuwe mobiliteitsplannen.
‘Mobiliteit voor Dummies’ kwam tot stand met de steun van ‘All 4 Zero’. Met dat project willen de verschillende overheden in België het aantal verkeersdoden in ons land tegen 2050 terugbrengen tot nul. All 4 Zero betrekt burgers actief in het verbeteren van de verkeersveiligheid, onder meer via een nationale enquête en thematische burgerpanels. All 4 Zero moedigt ook lokale initiatieven aan om hun eigen straat, buurt of gemeente verkeersveiliger te maken. Net daarom is het zo belangrijk dat iedereen kan meepraten over mobiliteit. En daar draagt onze reeks ‘Mobiliteit voor Dummies’ toe bij.
Tijdens workshops, inspraakmomenten en begeleidingen met burgers kan je er niet zomaar vanuit gaan dat iedereen mee is met dat mobiliteitsjargon. Woorden als sluipverkeer of parkeermanagement krijgen al snel verschillende invullingen. Daarom besliste Mobiel 21 om enkele moeilijke woorden op een heldere manier uit te leggen in een reeks laagdrempelige en informatieve video’s met de naam ‘Mobiliteit voor Dummies’. Daarin geeft Glenn Godin, medewerker bij Mobiel 21 en verkeersdeskundige, met een grappige draai en de nadruk op duurzame oplossingen, een antwoord op vaak gestelde vragen. In een reeks met 7 verschillende filmpjes legt hij telkens een ander mobiliteitsbegrip op een heldere manier uit. De onderwerpen van de filmpjes zijn: De knip, fietsstraat, verkeer, schoolstraat, sluipverkeer, parkeren en wegencategorisering. Het zijn stuk voor stuk begrippen die vaak ter sprake komen, bijvoorbeeld wanneer gemeenten hun burgers betrekken bij de opmaak van nieuwe mobiliteitsplannen.
‘Mobiliteit voor Dummies’ kwam tot stand met de steun van ‘All 4 Zero’. Met dat project willen de verschillende overheden in België het aantal verkeersdoden in ons land tegen 2050 terugbrengen tot nul. All 4 Zero betrekt burgers actief in het verbeteren van de verkeersveiligheid, onder meer via een nationale enquête en thematische burgerpanels. All 4 Zero moedigt ook lokale initiatieven aan om hun eigen straat, buurt of gemeente verkeersveiliger te maken. Net daarom is het zo belangrijk dat iedereen kan meepraten over mobiliteit. En daar draagt onze reeks ‘Mobiliteit voor Dummies’ toe bij.
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Our main product - a mobile app called OKO - makes every pedestrian light accessible to blind and low vision pedestrians. Cities all over the world struggle with making their pedestrian lights accessible by installing an audible signal. Physical audible signals have multiple challenges: they cost up to €50.000/intersection, they produce a lot of noise pollution and hence neighbours complain, they often brake, it's cumbersome to maintain them, they are not 24/7 operational due to noise pollution, etc.
OKO provides blind and low vision pedestrians with a handheld audible signal through their smartphone. OKO uses the back camera and AI to identify the pedestrian signal status. Differentiable audio, haptic and visual feedback is being used to convey that status. OKO doesn't rely on additional infrastructure to be installed and doesn't rely on a WiFi nor cellular connection. We provide blind and low vision pedestrians to safely cross the street with more ease and confidence. Our technology is game changing the market in many ways.
OKO provides blind and low vision pedestrians with a handheld audible signal through their smartphone. OKO uses the back camera and AI to identify the pedestrian signal status. Differentiable audio, haptic and visual feedback is being used to convey that status. OKO doesn't rely on additional infrastructure to be installed and doesn't rely on a WiFi nor cellular connection. We provide blind and low vision pedestrians to safely cross the street with more ease and confidence. Our technology is game changing the market in many ways.
