Google Street View has quickly turn out to be a tool for those attempting to get a way of community, take a look at real estate – and sometimes Make fun of the tech giant. When his mapping automotive drives. But it also has the potential to assist prevent falls and injuries in New Zealand's urban environment.
Falls are a number one reason for injury and accidental death amongst older adults, but identifying the situation of outside hazards takes time and effort.
In our New researchWe've built a tool using Google Street View to audit the places people walk.
Our latest tool – Fall-SAFE – goals to discover hazards in New Zealand's built environment and create a database for local councils and community groups to know where an older person might fall – and why. .
A costly risk
annually, One out of three More than 65 people have been injured by falls. This number rises to 1 in two for people over 80 years of age.
Only in 2023, ACC received 236,985 new claims. For falls in people over 60 years of age. Many of those falls resulted in serious injuries, resembling hip fractures, hospitalization and even death.
It's not only older people who find themselves prone to falling – although they're by far the largest group. Last 12 months, ACC paid out NZ$2.15 billion to settle fall claims.
The effect of fall flow is far more than simply medical rehabilitation. Older individuals who have fallen outside, or who're afraid of falling as a consequence of risk aspects, could also be less willing to walk. After that they miss it. Physical, mental and social benefits With this type of activity.
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Assessing the environment
Using data from the ambulance service Go away Saint Johnwe identified 2,117 falls between July 2016 and June 2018 in urban areas involving adults aged 65 years or older. Wellington was excluded because the town uses a distinct ambulance service.
Auditors then used Google Street View to evaluate the locations of those falls and discover hazards within the built environment that will have contributed. These hazards include trip hazards, uneven footpaths, obstacles (resembling overgrown bushes) and slopes.
Auditors used a “drop and spin” method for his or her assessment, where they accomplished a 360° audit of the autumn location. Google Maps images were placed as near the date of the accident as possible.
Drop-and-spin virtual audits are faster than physical audits, but just as reliable. Additionally, drop-and-spin virtual audits enable assessments across large geographic areas that may be difficult to evaluate in person.
Understanding the streets of New Zealand
After examining the varied fall sites, we gained a greater understanding of where the falls occurred and the hazards that might have contributed to the falls.
Half of all falls occurred in residential locations (49.1%) and 1 / 4 occurred in business locations (22.4%). Another 16.2% of falls occurred in “other” locations (resembling rural or industrial areas).
Over 60% of fall sites had no less than one trip hazard as a consequence of poor sidewalks. The most typical obstructions were manholes, service covers or grates (71.5%), poles (65.4%), utility boxes (46.6%) and overhanging vegetation (39.5%). Other barriers resembling bus shelters, chairs and tables, or drains were noted at 64.5% of websites.
Three-quarters of falls occurred on sites with flat or gentle slopes (76.3%). Only 15.5% of falls occurred on moderate slopes, while 8.2% occurred on steep slopes.
Most (95.6%) of the autumn sites were of normal height (ten cm). Some locations had no curbs (2.3%) or storm drains (2%). Street lights were present at most fall locations, either on one side of the road (including partial or only a few) (54%) or each side (44%). Street lights weren't visible in 0.9% of the sites.
Of all of the sites we assessed, just below 6% had no apparent risk. This seems to point that external hazards were a vital consider most falls – although without information from the one that fell, it's hard to know obviously.
A less expensive and faster option
The current approach to assessing the security of urban environments — sending people to physically observe the sidewalks to discover problems — could be time-consuming and expensive.
And money isn't available to work. Several councils including Hamilton And Mastertonhas announced a major reduction in funding from the New Zealand Transport Agency for the upkeep and repair of footpaths and cycle lanes.
Another problem is that these evaluators may not fully understand the experiences of older people in these settings. The risk for somebody aged 65+ is probably not similar to for somebody of their 30s or 40s.
Understanding the aspects that contribute to older people's falls — resembling barriers and trip hazards — allows city planners to deal with problems within the built environment.
Our free auditing tool gives councils and advocacy groups a option to take a look at the environment to know risks. Our research applied it to places where we all know people have fallen, however the tool could be used to evaluate the chance of any environment.
Investing effort and time now to deal with these fallout risks early can get monetary savings – and lives – further down the road.