‘Walk’ means run for elderly pedestrians
19th June 2012
By Rada Rouse
UK researchers timed the normal walking speed of more than 3000 people aged 65 years and older, finding that 76% of men and 65% of women could not walk fast enough to beat the red light.
Pedestrians need to step out at a steady clip of 1.2 metres/second to cross a road while the walk light is green.
But tests with a random sample of elderly residents found the mean ‘normal’ walking speed was 0.9m/s for men and 0.8m/s for women.
It was notable that the older the person the slower their gait, the