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Social service transport : transport for elderly and handicapped persons; held in Paris on 20th - 21st March 1980 PDF

138 Pages·1980·4.541 MB·English
by  OECD
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Preview Social service transport : transport for elderly and handicapped persons; held in Paris on 20th - 21st March 1980

ECONOMIC RESEARCH CENTRE REPORT OF THE FIFTY· FIRST ROUND TABLE ON TRANSPORT ECONOMICS Held in Paris on 20th-21st March, 1980 on the following topic : "SOCIAL SERVICE, TRANSPORT :. TRANSPORT FOR ELDERLY AND HANDICAPPED PERSONS EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF TRANSPORT The European Coriference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) was insti tuted by a Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th October 1953. It comprises the Ministers of Transport of the following 19 countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden. Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and Yugoslavia (associated countries: Australia, Canada, Japan, United Sta(es). The purposes of the ECMT are : to take whatever measures may be necessary to achieve, at general or regional level, the maximum use and most rational development of European inland transport of international importance; to co-ordinate and promote the activities of International Organisations concerned with European inland transport (rail, road, navigable ways), taking into account the work of supranational authorities in this field PubliC en fran~ais sous le lilre: LES TRANSPORTS SOCIAUX PEASONNES AGEES ET HANOICAPEES • • • © ECMT, 1980 ECMT publications are marketed by the Sale of Publications Department of the OECD, 2, rue Andre-Pascal, 75775 PARIS CEDEX 16, France. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION A. Bieber 4 PART I - Mobility and the elderly A. Hitchcock 7 PART II - Mobility and handicapped persons B. Mettler-Meibom 23 PART III - Evolution of specific welfare services C. Poulenat-Aballea ~•••••••••••ooooooooooooooooooooooooo 45 PART IV - From analysis to decision-making A. Bieber 65 ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION 91 (Round Table debate on the reports) LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 131 ECMT. ECONOMIC RESEARCH CENTRE Forthcoming publications oo•••o•o••••o•·········••••o••o••135 3 INTRODUCTION Recognising the importance of the day-to-day problems that the handicapped persons and the elderly have in getting about, many authorities make a point of studying these difficulties and introduc ing measures to alleviate them. The subject is not easy to approach, and no clearly defined philosophy is apparent at international or even national level. There are several reasons for this. The real-life situations indi cated by the words handicapped and elderly persons are very diverse, the action taken at local, regional and national levels in this area differs from one country to another and even the institutions them selves that are responsible differ. The purpose of this report is therefore essentially to present a synthesis of the main facts in order to throw some light on this diversity. * * * Two preliminary points must be made. First, it must be re membered that the report is more or less entirely concerned with the mobility problems associated with elderly and handicapped persons' daily lives. This limits the field of analysis to urban and regional transport. In spite of their great interest, the pro blems arising for intercity carriers are not referred to. It seemed difficult to include these problems -which are very different and could provide material for another round table on their own - in the same study. Secondly, the general intention in this introductory report is to focus on the socio-economic problems presented by the transport of the handicapped persons and the elderly. The rapporteurs are well aware of the importance of technological research in this area and the breadth of certain recent projects (such as the United States scheme to make all buses "accessible" by means of technolog ical aids even to severely disabled persons). But, in Europe, most of the transport improvements made specifically for the handicapped and the elderly have been based on "soft" types of innovation such 4 as the organisation of services in new ways, assistance with fares and so forth. We therefore felt it better to talk about what has actually been done rather than about future plans and, on that account, the socio-economic aspect has been given precedence. * * * The report is in four parts written by four rapporteurs - so as to give the necessary variety of approach, particularly from the national standpoint - and co-ordinated by A. BIEBER as general rapporteur. Part I (rapporteur : A. HITCHCOCK, United Kingdom) takes stock of what is known about the transport problems of the elderly and the extent to which they have affected relevant decisions. Part II (rapporteur : B. METTLER-MEIBOM, Federal Republic of Germany) deals with the same subjects but with regard to the handicapped persons. It also discusses the problem of compiling statistics on the handicapped and on their transport difficulties. Part III (rapporteur : C. POULENAT-ABALLEA, France) tells us more about the historical evolution of the ways in which public aid is given to the handicapped persons and the effect this has had on the transport services that are provided in different countries. Part IV (rapporteur : A. BIEBER, France) attempts to distil, from all the available facts, the various aspects of a possible methodological approach to these problems. The report attempts therefore to expand on the conclusions of the last ECMT report on this subject LCM(78)22_7 in three directions finding out more about the social position of the elderly and the handicapped, enquiring into what local action has been taken as regards transport and proposing a general diagnostic method as a preliminary to defining priority action for any given urban area. 5 PART I MOBILITY AND THE ELDERLY A. HITCHCOCK Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL) CROWTHORNE United Kingdom SUMMARY 1. INTRODUCTION 9 2. WHO IS ELDERLY ? • o. o •••• o •••••••• o •••• o. o •• o. o • o •• o oo •• o 12 3. APPROACHES TO STUDY OF THE MOBILITY OF THE ELDERLY 13 4. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ELDERLY 15 5o ' THE OLD AS PATRONS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT o •••••••••••••• o • • 16 6. THE PERSPECTIVES OF NEED AND OF PERSONAL SPACE ••••o•oo•• 18 7. POLICY CONSIDERATIONS 20 BIBLIOGRAPHY 22 8 1. INTRODUCTION The very existence of ECMT Round Table 51 illustrates an increasing concern on the part of many administrations that current trends in transport provision are causing problems to several more or less clearly identified social groups, among them people variously described as "elderly" (French and United Kingdom), "elderly and disabled" (United Kingdom), "elderly and handicapped" (United States), "transportation handicapped" (United States). Similar concerns are not new: French transport law has for 60 years or more granted special privileges to war wounded, and mothers of large families, for example, and Britain as well as France has long given special treatment to the blind. The elderly, however, are a far more numerous group, and the idea that they should receive special privileges in transport is relatively new, and the realisation, now widely accepted by research workers, that the elderly are not a homogeneous group, so that different kinds of action are appropriate for different sub-groups, is only just beginning to penetrate the thinking of policy executives. Old age and handicap can be - and are - variously defined, but there is clearly an association between them. National studies in the United Kingdom give different pictures of the extent of the association between age and handicap, depending how the latter is defined. Harris,(l) concerned with the ability of those with impairment (i.e. physical disorder of a limb or other organ or mental disorder), and defining handicap largely in terms of ability to look after oneself, gives figures from which Table 1 has been derived, but states that the sample may well not include many people with impairments of kinds which could affect ability to drive or walk longer distances. With this definition 30 per cent of those with any impairment were over 65-74 and a further 29 per cent over 75. Hunt. (2) in a study of the elderly asked those not confined to their beds or houses if they had a disability which interfered with any activity, and produced Table 2. 9

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