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News: Age, gender major factors in severity of auto-accident injuries Understanding the differences among drivers in different gender and age categories is crucial to preventing serious injuries, said researchers in a new study showing stark statistical differences in traffic-accident injuries depending on the gender and age of drivers.Read more |
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Understanding the differences among drivers in different gender and age categories is crucial to preventing serious injuries. |
March 2007
Licensed older drivers (over 60) in the United States have increased by almost 50 percent since 1985, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Most of these drivers are safe drivers, but older adults with cognitive impairments and those above age 80 have a much higher risk for causing and/or being in a car accident.
These older adults with impairments are much more likely than younger adults to have crashes during daylight hours, on weekdays, in intersections, turning left and when merging. Furthermore, adults over the age of 80 have higher fatality rates (per miles driven) than any other age group except for 16-year-olds, according to the NHTSA.
You will find more information on this interesting topic in the article Age, gender major factors in severity of auto-accident injuries that you will find attached with our 50th Progressive Newsletter.
Many older drivers are at similar risk for car accidents as newly licensed 16 year olds a study finds in the USA. Additionally there are allegations that automobiles are inspected with much greater scrutiny than the drivers of those automobiles.
Even when drivers are tested for impairment, the methods used to identify impairments (e.g., vision screening exams) are variable and not good at predicting poor drivers. Most older drivers are safe and use good judgment in adjusting their driving habits to age-related changes in visuo-motor capacities.
It is important to focus on older persons driving abilities, to reduce the reliance on out-of-date or ineffective screening techniques, to encourage the use of tests which are fair to drivers of all ages and which actually measure the capacities necessary to drive safely and promote the passage of laws based on empirical findings.
A new vision test may ultimately help the elderly, their families, and physicians decide when it's okay for an older person to continue driving or when it may be time to hang up the car keys.
Using a novel "useful field of view" test to measure how drivers process visual information, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) found that poor performance on the test was linked to an increased risk of car crashes. Drivers who showed a 40 percent or greater impairment in their useful field of view were more than twice as likely to be involved in a crash within 3 years of testing.
Takis A. Haggiandreou
Director
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It is important to focus on older persons driving abilities, to reduce the reliance on out-of-date or ineffective screening techniques. |
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