ACTS

Older Driver Tool Kit

Roadway Friendliness Assessment Tool

The purpose of the Roadway Friendliness Assessment Tool is to help Safe Community Coalition members and other advocates to determine how friendly their community's roadways are to older drivers. Click on the Treatments below to learn more about the tool and use it for your community.

Instructions:

1. Review the 15 Roadway Treatments that make streets and intersections friendlier and more navigable for all drivers. These 15 were selected from a list of over 100 treatments that the Federal Highway Administration recommends for all communities. Generally, these treatments can be installed gradually through normal, routine maintenance and replacement thereby reducing costs.
2. Next think about the route you drive most commonly from your home to some other destination in the community. Using the chart below, indicate whether you see any examples of these treatments. If you do, check "Present" for that treatment. If you don't see it anywhere, check "Absent." If it is not relevant for your community, mark "N/A" or Not Applicable. You might want several people to complete this exercise, and you may want the sheet in your car as you are driving around.
3. Check your scores with others who have completed the worksheet. How many of the 15 were commonly observed? While all 15 make the roadway system friendlier, some might not be relevant for your community.
4. When you have completed the analysis consult your local traffic safety engineer to discuss the results. Use the results to determine if you believe that your community is friendly to older drivers. Of all the treatments recommended by the Federal Highway Administration, which ones does the engineer believe are practical for your community?