The aging population is rapidly growing across the world, with the number of people aged 65 or older projected to reach 1.6 billion by 2050. As such, it is essential to consider how to develop sustainable transport systems that are age-friendly. This perspective paper investigates how to foster an age-friendly transport system with a particular focus on public and sustainable transport options for the elderly. Existing transport systems are evaluated to determine their adherence to an effective age-friendly transport system in terms of three main requirements, namely affordability, accessibility and safety. Then, a psychological perspective is introduced by considering the psycho-physical needs and preferences of the elderly as well as individual factors affecting them. Four areas are considered: (a) independence and autonomy, (b) comfort and convenience, (c) social inclusion and ageism, (d) physical health and well-being, especially injuries due to mobility and fear connected with them. Finally, a proposal is made about psychological training programs directed to both elderly users and transport workers to overcome concerns for an age-friendly transportation system. Such programs could effectively support the age-friendly use of public transport systems simply by increasing the age-friendly skills of both users as well as transport workers.

Spatial Anxiety (SA) can be defined as the fear and apprehension experienced during tasks that require spatial thinking and may negatively impact the execution of daily actions. Although it has been explored in several research fields, limited research has explored the effects of SA on specific driving behaviours. In the current study, it was hypothesised that the severity of SA affects risky driving behaviours, and that this relationship is mediated by the driver's self-regulation abilities. Self-reported SA symptoms, driving self-regulation abilities, and risky driving behaviours (i.e., errors, violations, and lapses) were examined in 838 Italian drivers. Data were analysed through linear regressions and path analysis models, controlling for sociodemographic variables. The results showed the negative effects of SA on driving errors and lapses. As hypothesised, a driver's self-regulation abilities mediated the influence of SA on driving lapses, but not on errors nor violations. These findings suggest that the inclination to self-regulate the SA experienced while driving contribute to increase the occurrence of driving lapses. Showing specific pathways through which SA impacts risky driving, these results provide valuable insights for the development of 'driver-focused' road safety interventions.

The study aimed to determine the sociodemographic and psychological profiles of drivers with a history of motor vehicle crashes (MVCs), following the contextual-mediated model of crash involvement, and trying to define similarities and differences with drivers without MVCs. Although road trauma prevention has become a central public health issue, the study of psychological determinants of MVCs does not have consistent results due to methodological and theoretical weaknesses. Three-hundred and forty-five active drivers (20% females) completed an extensive office-based fitness-to-drive evaluation including measures of cognition, personality, self-reported driving-related behaviors, attitudes, as well as computerized measures of driving performance. The Classification and Regression Tree method (CART) was used to identify discriminant predictors. The classification identified several relevant predictors; the personality trait of Discostraint (as a distal context variable; cut-point: 50 T points) and motor speed (as a proximal context variable; cut-point: 64 percentile ranks). The global classification model increased approximately 3 times the probability of identifying people with a history of MVC involvement, starting from an estimated prevalence of being involved in an MVC in a period of five years in the population of active drivers. Consistent with the ‘contextual-mediated model of traffic accident involvement’, the results of the present study suggest that road trauma analysis should focus on both distal and proximal driver-related factors by paying attention to their association in determining MVCs. These results represent a valuable source of knowledge for researchers and practitioners for preventing road trauma.

Recent evidence suggests residential surrounding greenness may benefit cognitive functioning. Although benefits have been widely studied in children and young adults, research involving mature and older adults, especially studies using objective greenness measures and comprehensive cognitive assessments, remains limited and shows mixed results. This study examines the effect of residential surrounding greenness on global and domain-specific cognition (memory, attention, language, executive functions) in community-dwelling mature and older adults. Also, moderating factors (age, gender, and education) are investigated. Satellite-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was measured at 100, 300, and 500 m buffers around residences, considering short-term (1-year) and long-term (20-year) exposure. Cognitive functioning was assessed using standardized neuropsychological tests. Linear and moderated regression models tested hypotheses. Findings reveal differentiated effects of residential greenness on cognition. Short- and long-term exposure were positively associated with language performance in subgroups, such as older participants and those with lower schooling. Conversely, greenness exposure was negatively associated with memory, particularly in males. These findings highlight the complex relationship between residential greenness and cognition. Effects vary across cognitive domains and socioeconomic factors, underscoring the need for further investigation of mechanisms linking greenness exposure to cognitive functioning in aging populations.