While the percentage of pedestrian trips is relatively small, the elderly demonstrate an increasing reliance on walking, making this mode of travel extremely important. The Elderly Pedestrian. The average trip rate for the total population is 3.7 trips per person per day. There are some variations in travel patterns by gender, particularly in the older elderly subsets. As they age, females appear to make fewer automobile trips, fewer driver trips and more walking and transit trips as a percentage of the total.
Elderly females are less likely than males to have a vehicle available for trips.
The person trip rates and the driver trip rates for older females are significantly less than for males. The average trip length for females is less than for males with the exception of females in the 65-74 age group. In general, there are few differences in trip making characteristics between the elderly living in urban, suburban and rural areas with the exception of travel mode. The elderly in suburban and rural areas are more likely than their urban counterparts to make automobile trips and this is likely due, in part, to increased availability of automobiles for trips in those areas and a greater accessibility to transit and pedestrian routes in urban areas. Our society is built on the concept of personal mobility and any recommended policies or practices must be sensitive to that fact.