Crash rates for drivers in their 70s drop below those of middle-aged drivers
Better health, safer vehicles and various policy interventions have prevented a spike in crashes as a result of the aging U.S. population.
www.iihs.org
Drivers in 70+ Age Group Safer Than 35-54 Age Group
- Thread starter SubLGT
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www.iihs.org
And 70 year olds are speeding and looking at their cell phones during their trips.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
As I watched a geriatric drive down the middle of the white line today for half a kilometer before finally picking a lane I have to laugh at this, but then the opening line of the article clarifies, as it indicates FATAL crashes, which makes perfect sense, as most of these people never venture outside of the city here locally, it's quite rare to find them on the highway, which is where most fatal collisions occur.
Younger people crash because they are distracted. Older people crash because of poor eyesight, distance judgement, etc. They are two different types of danger. The insurance company I worked for had an AARP automotive line. Some of those claims were downright scary. We had one lady who hit 5 different cars, drove away and had no idea. She actually argued with us that it never happened. The only way we could prove it was the damage on her car and the cameras on a nearby building that caught it.
My own grandmother got pulled over for doing 80 mph in a school zone.
My own grandmother got pulled over for doing 80 mph in a school zone.
These studies are ALWAYS muddled and trying to tease out what the results actually represent is very difficult.
Quite a bit of this decline is likely due to increased testing requirements for older drivers in most jurisdictions.
Young, middle age, and older drivers are all dangerous for different reasons. It follows that nominal fatal accidents would decline in an age group (older) when measures are put in place to remove drivers not capable of performing in that age group.
OVERKILL
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When my M5 got hit the lady who hit me didn't even know it happened and argued with me that it wasn't her, that if it had been, there'd be evidence on her car! When I showed her the blue paint on her bumper she was gobsmacked. She had no idea she'd hit another vehicle.
I watched an elderly woman at Shoppers Drug Mart take out an entire line of cars, it was like dominos, she was pulling out of her spot, didn't go far enough, put it in drive, punched the gas and took out the entire line, of which there were 4 or 5. She didn't even know how she did it, it was nuts.
We regularly have old folks drive the wrong way up the one way streets here locally that they've been navigating their entire lives. One of my favourites is them taking a turn across three lanes of traffic without looking
Yup, I saw all of the above. It was pretty sad actually. My grandmother had dementia before she passed and we had to take her keys shortly after the school zone incident (and she hit a mailbox she didn't remember). Lots of people out there on the roads failing both physically and mentally that are behind the wheel. I hated those claims the most because usually the person couldn't remember what happened and became extremely frustrated.When my M5 got hit the lady who hit me didn't even know it happened and argued with me that it wasn't her, that if it had been, there'd be evidence on her car! When I showed her the blue paint on her bumper she was gobsmacked. She had no idea she'd hit another vehicle.
I watched an elderly woman at Shoppers Drug Mart take out an entire line of cars, it was like dominos, she was pulling out of her spot, didn't go far enough, put it in drive, punched the gas and took out the entire line, of which there were 4 or 5. She didn't even know how she did it, it was nuts.
We regularly have old folks drive the wrong way up the one way streets here locally that they've been navigating their entire lives. One of my favourites is them taking a turn across three lanes of traffic without looking
Yeah having worked auto claims I wouldn't say one is any more dangerous than the other, both are very bad. I drive 100 miles a day for my commute and I would say the number of people I see on their phones, or distracted is over half. Lots of people going over the yellow line, running stop lights/signs without even noticing they did it, etc. Yesterday I had to brake very hard because a guy in a Dodge ram with a loaded trailer had drifted into my lane from the oncoming lane. I flashed my lights and honked while braking to the side of the road, and the guy never even looked up from his phone.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Sounds so familiar
We had to take my grandmother's keys for similar reasons. She went to drive her Jimmy into town, think she was going to get her hair done, and ended up off the road. She had no recollection of how she got there or any of the chain of events. She stated, in a matter of fact way, that you know, she must have rolled, because she felt a breeze and realized that the vehicle had no windows left in it
She was in the early stages of dementia as well and things went downhill from there.
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
I agree. I have never looked at my phone while driving it’s always in my pocket or charging while I am driving. I don’t believe in not listening to the rules especially since they made phones a primary offense while driving last year in my state same with seatbelts. I live in the somewhat rural area and almost have been hit head on several times by distracted drivers not paying attention. My dad isn’t the best about staying off his phone and then he swerves in and out of traffic trying to put his Bluetooth on it always scares me to death. I have never been in an accident except when I was a baby but I’ve never had one while I’m driving.
Unfortunately, with dementia sometimes comes an attitude of 'screw y'all' when they're driving. I was leaving Walmart, sitting in the middle lane (left turn lane) of the WalMart entrance / exit, when an old guy in a Taurus came up behind me, and proceeded to move left and come up beside me, putting him in the entrance lane. When someone came nose-to-nose with him, trying to get in, he reversed and got back in line behind me. The light turned green, I idled out into the intersection with my left turn signal on, waiting for oncoming traffic to pass, and here he comes again, up on my left, and executed his left turn in front of all the oncoming traffic. Honey Badger don't give a ......... I finally got a chance to turn left, and I got in behind him and got the local police on the phone. I told them this old fart was going to kill someone if they don't come stop him. The police found us and pulled him over, about 4 miles from where this all started. I hope they evaluated his mental state before letting him proceed.
You will hopefully become old as well
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Hopefully my driving skills remain reasonably intact like my mom's father's did rather than decline significantly like my father's parents. And, if they do decline, I hope my kids have the sense to intervene, which clearly isn't the case with a lot of the old folks locally who should have hung up their spurs years ago.
No matter the age, defensive driving is the key.
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September 2019 one of my cops calls out a "pursuit." I give her a brief time to get a whole of the matter and run the plate. I radio "speed and conditions." Running the plate comes back to a 79 year old owner living in my city. She identifies an elderly male driver. Pursuit terminated; we'll catch up to him later. We did just that a few hours later at his home. No recollection of anything...dementia.
The best part.....Roadway is a double yellow connector street between two busy state routes running parallel. The old guy decided the marked cop car was going too slow and passed her over the double yellow; blew through a stop sign and entered an apartment complex. Police car enters the complex. Old guy is now exiting the same complex. Cop and old guy separated by a median. Old guy gets out of his car, flips her the bird, and yells "F You!! You drive too slow!!"
Later his family called and explained they had been trying to get him to stop driving for a few years now. He doesn't drive anymore.
I'm not laughing at him directly but it was hilarious.
The best part.....Roadway is a double yellow connector street between two busy state routes running parallel. The old guy decided the marked cop car was going too slow and passed her over the double yellow; blew through a stop sign and entered an apartment complex. Police car enters the complex. Old guy is now exiting the same complex. Cop and old guy separated by a median. Old guy gets out of his car, flips her the bird, and yells "F You!! You drive too slow!!"
Later his family called and explained they had been trying to get him to stop driving for a few years now. He doesn't drive anymore.
I'm not laughing at him directly but it was hilarious.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
One thing I think that needs to be taken into consideration, is the type of driving old people do. While their accidents per mile may be lower, their miles are trips to the grocery store at 1pm, they aren’t fighting traffic. They aren’t out in rush out huddle where there’s 10x more cars on the road.
Key word in that report: Fatal. If we look at low speed parking lot type incidents, those numbers would tell a very different story.
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