Are Elderly Drivers Dangerous?

Ed Normand

Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 336

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Many assume that older drivers are unsafe behind the wheel, cause more auto accidents and should be tested more frequently. Actually the truth is just the opposite. According to a study by the Rand Corporation: " drivers 65 and over are only one-third as likely as younger drivers to cause auto accidents." The data revealed that older drivers make up 15 percent of all drivers but they cause only 7 percent of the car accidents. By contrast, drivers in the 15 to 24 age group are 13 percent of the drivers but cause 43 percent of the car crashes.

In an earlier posting we discussed that about half of all young drivers admit to text messaging behind the wheel whereas only one percent of elderly drivers text and drive. With texting messaging becoming more and more prevalent these statistics will probably show even more differences in the car accident rates of the youth as compared to the elderly.

One unanswered question is if the higher youth car crash rate is the direct result of them having to pass those crummy slow old drivers hogging the fast lane. Not really, but see the report at www.rand.org.

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