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Drivers who reach a specific age may begin to suffer physical and mental limitations that affect their driving skills. Drivers who are seventy years of age and above have higher fatal crash rates per mile traveled than middle-aged drivers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. If you suffered injuries during a car accident, contact Arash Law to schedule a free initial consultation with a California personal injury lawyer.
Elderly drivers are more prevalent than ever before. As advances in medicine continue to progress, the average age of the population of the United States rises. Fewer drivers are forfeiting their driving licenses, and older drivers are continuing to drive well into old age.
However, elderly drivers were in more car accidents in the past. In 2019, approximately 5,000 people who were seventy years of age and older died in car accidents. This represented a reduction from the higher numbers recorded in 1997. This reduction in fatalities is a significant indicator of overall traffic safety in the United States.
The majority of elderly drivers limit the geographic range and hours they drive. As drivers age, they spend less time driving, and they drive shorter distances. Many older drivers do not drive in poor weather conditions or after sundown. Some jurisdictions mandate that drivers over a specific age renew their licenses in person so that dangerous drivers have their licenses revoked or restricted.
Approximately 36 million people aged 70 and older reside in the United States. These older citizens make up eleven percent of the U.S. population. The Federal Highway Administration reports that the United States is home to 35 million drivers who are 70 years of age or older as of 2019.
The majority of licensed drivers in the United States are twenty to sixty-nine years old. Drivers over seventy years of age make up a small portion of the total drivers in the United States, according to the National Household Travel Survey. Although drivers over seventy years of age drive less often than younger drivers, they still retain their licenses. Also, the elderly population in the United States continues to grow. Licensed drivers seventy years of age and older rose by seventy percent from 1997 to 2019. The proportion of drivers seventy years of age and older increased from seventy-three percent in 1997 to eighty-three percent in 2019.
By the year 2030, the total number of U.S. residents seventy years of age and older will rise to fifty-three million. These demographic changes will likely influence traffic safety trends in the United States. However, fatalities related to car accidents involving elderly drivers were lower from 1998 to 2019 than they had been in earlier periods.
Traffic safety data shows that thousands of individuals seventy years of age and older suffer fatalities in car accidents each year. However, the rate of deaths per capita among older people has decreased 47% since 1975.
National traffic safety data indicate that fatal crash involvement rates for drivers seventy years of age and older declined from 1997 to 2018 at a faster pace than rates for drivers in the thirty-five to fifty-four age range.
Elderly drivers are covering more miles now than they did two decades ago. Research shows that drivers seventy years of age and older are traveling more miles than they used to, with average yearly mileage increasing substantially over the past two decades. This future was lower for younger drivers during the same time periods.
While drivers seventy years of age and older have relatively low crash involvement rates per capita, their increased vulnerability to injury means they face higher fatality rates per crash than younger drivers. However, elderly drivers do not drive as many miles as younger drivers. These facts produce unique trends that appear when drivers reach seventy years of age or older.
Similar to other drivers who are younger, elderly drivers add up more miles when they are driving in urban areas. Freeways and crowded highways have fewer car accidents than other types of roads, and drivers who drive a large number of miles do so on highways and freeways. Accident rates may be higher for elderly drivers due to their driving habits and where they spend the most time driving.
Car accident data is often scrutinized by examining insurance claims. Those drivers who are between the ages of sixty-five and sixty-nine have fewer collision claims and property damage liability claims than any other age group. Once drivers reach the age of seventy, these figures for claims rise. Elderly drivers tend to have lower insurance claim rates than younger drivers.
Driving Ability And Age
Those drivers who are advanced in years may notice a deterioration in their visual, cognitive, and physical skills. Some elderly drivers may suffer severe impairments and be unable to drive during stressful events or challenging episodes involving heavy traffic. Additionally, elderly drivers may cause accidents while switching lanes or merging into lanes.
Researchers have surmised that as the visual, cognitive, and physical skills of elderly drivers deteriorate, traffic accidents increase. Some senior citizens take many medications to treat their health conditions. Some medications may cause drowsiness, fatigue, and confusion, which can increase the risk of a car accident.
Specific types of car accidents are also more common among elderly citizens. Intersection accidents, merging crashes, and angle accidents are more common among elderly drivers. Safety data indicate that multi-vehicle accidents at intersections represent a significantly higher percentage of crashes for drivers over 80 compared to drivers under 60.
This increase is largely attributed to age-related declines in cognitive function, visual perception, and reaction time, which make it more difficult for older drivers to judge gaps in traffic, respond quickly to changing signals, and navigate complex intersection environments.
Elderly citizens make an extremely common error that leads to car accidents: failure to yield the right-of-way to other vehicles. Senior citizens fail to yield the right-of-way at higher rates than younger citizens. Additionally, traffic safety data indicate that one of the most common contributing factors in accidents involving drivers seventy and older is a failure to check their surroundings adequately. Senior citizens who are driving are more likely to make false judgments regarding the distance between vehicles and the speed at which another automobile is traveling.
Injury Risk And Age
The primary variable that influences fatality rates during car accidents among elderly citizens is the fragile physical condition of those drivers. As drivers age, they become more physically fragile, and their risk of dying during a serious car accident increases.
The parties most at risk of suffering injuries due to accidents involving senior citizens are the drivers themselves and the passengers. In 2023, 57% of the deaths in crashes involving drivers 70 and older were the older drivers themselves, and 12% were their passengers.
Driver’s License Renewal
Elderly drivers often face more restrictions regarding the renewal of their licenses to drive. Special driving tests, in-person renewal procedures, and shorter licensing periods are examples of some policies adopted by different states. These provisions and restrictions may apply to drivers once they reach an age specified by the state legislature.
Driver’s License Renewal: Different Procedures Among The States
Among drivers eighty-five years of age and older, in-person licensing renewal mandates and vision examinations are two procedures that reduce fatal car accidents among elderly drivers. Drivers who are fifty-five years of age and older do not demonstrate lower car accident fatality rates, even when shorter renewal times, knowledge examinations, and road tests are implemented to reduce instances of fatal car accidents.
The Highway Loss Data Institute examined research studies related to road examinations in New Hampshire and Illinois. These studies revealed that data related to insurance claim rates are sometimes contradictory.
Total automobile insurance claim rates for drivers aged seventy-five and older were lower in Illinois compared to other states that did not have road testing requirements. Drivers aged seventy-five and older were also not likely to be insured in Illinois. The road test mandates may have caused some individuals to stop driving.
The same result was not evident in New Hampshire, although the state had a road test mandate that applied to all drivers seventy-five years of age and older.
Australian researchers discovered that drivers aged eighty and older did not exhibit lower car accident rates, fatality rates, or serious bodily injury rates, even though road tests and medical tests were mandated. Other states without these restrictions exhibited nearly the same rates of car accidents. Also, some states with greater restrictions featured higher rates of car accidents involving fatalities and serious bodily injuries.
Elderly drivers may face specific restrictions, such as not being allowed to drive in the evening or outside a specific area. Also, some states restrict elderly drivers from driving on roads with higher speed limits.
Some states create procedures that require vision screens, road examinations, knowledge assessments, and other evaluations for elderly citizens. These drivers may face referrals from family members, doctors, and law enforcement officers.
A research study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Iowa discovered that drivers seventy years of age and older who received additional testing possessed greater rates of mobility limitation and problems with their vision. Drivers who did not have to receive additional testing reported fewer of these problems. The majority of elderly drivers voluntarily chose to regulate their driving behaviors by not driving in dangerous situations. Restrictions imposed by the state on driver behavior made it more likely that elderly drivers would voluntarily restrict their behavior.
Different results have come about from research studies related to the relationship between automobile accidents and licensing restrictions. In British Columbia, drivers who faced restrictive provisions went longer without being in an accident after renewing a license than unrestricted drivers. Other research studies have produced contradictory conclusions.
Safety Mechanisms & Automobiles
Specific automobile features that protect younger drivers and passengers also protect elderly occupants. Fatalities are reduced by side airbags that feature torso and head protection. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, head-protecting side airbags reduce driver death risk by approximately 37 percent in driver-side crashes, benefiting both younger and older drivers.
Older model automobiles feature less effective safety belts that do not prevent as many fatalities among elderly drivers and passengers. However, all adults receive greater protection from newer safety belts that feature load limitation devices and pretensioners. Frontal airbags in newer automobiles are also more effective at reducing fatalities and serious bodily injuries.
Newer vehicle technologies can help save the lives of drivers and passengers, no matter their ages. Car accidents are reduced by lane departure warning systems, blind spot detection devices, and frontal crash prevention systems. The Highway Loss Data Institute conducted research studies on frontal accident prevention and lane departure warning systems.
These analyses revealed that claim rates drop among all age groups when considering vehicles with new safety features. However, drivers younger than sixty-five years of age benefit more than drivers over sixty-five years of age.
Rear parking alert systems and rearview cameras help drivers aged seventy years and older avoid car accidents involving vehicles that are backing up.
Accident Reduction & Safety Automation
Accident reduction technologies have many benefits. However, some researchers and safety analysts predict that these safety features require specific responses from drivers that may cause elderly drivers not to pay attention to the road and cause an accident involving serious bodily injury or death.
Age differences are evident in data related to vehicle owners who use accident reduction technologies. Research on driver-assist technologies shows varied reactions, with some older drivers reporting that the systems are helpful, while others express that the alerts can be distracting or confusing. If so, it is likely that the rate of accidents will increase among older drivers who use accident-reduction technologies.
Drivers who are sixty years of age have not specifically noted challenges when using accident reduction features. The majority of users of vehicles featuring rear parking signals want them on the next automobile they purchase. These include drivers and passengers who are older than sixty years of age.
Drivers And Their Environment
Improving traffic safety improves the lives of children, adults, and senior citizens. Traffic signals, road signs, and pavement markings can help reduce accidents involving serious bodily injury and death. Additionally, drivers suffering from visual impairments such as cataracts and glaucoma can benefit from more visible road signals and traffic signs.
Elderly drivers often become involved in car accidents at intersections. Modifying intersections by installing left-turn traffic signals and left-turn lanes can help reduce car accidents for drivers of all ages, including elderly drivers who are particularly vulnerable at intersections.
Roundabouts are used in many states to reduce car accidents at intersections. These devices can reduce the speeds at which vehicles travel. Many communities report a vast reduction in the total number of accidents after roundabouts replaced traditional intersections. Advanced warning systems and directions can direct older drivers to routes that contain roundabouts rather than intersections.
Involved In A Car Crash? Contact A California Personal Injury Attorney
Contact Arash Law today to schedule a free initial consultation. We have years of experience representing clients who have suffered injuries due to the negligence of another party. Call Arash Law car accident lawyers today at (888) 488-1391 or complete our “Do I Have A Case?” form to learn more about the legal services we offer. We serve clients in San Francisco, Riverside, Sacramento, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sherman Oaks, and throughout California.
