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Volume 09: A Guide for Reducing Collisions Involving Older Drivers
Making Our Highways Safer for Seniors
One in eight people today is age 65 or older. By 2030, the number is expected to swell to one in five. This age group accounts for close to 14 percent of all traffic fatalities-about 6,000 people a year-and an even higher percentage of pedestrian deaths, which include about 1,000 seniors.
Compared to younger age groups, fewer seniors have licenses and they drive fewer miles per licensed driver. Yet, per mile driven, seniors have higher crash rates than any other group except teenagers.
A senior's risk of crashing may be increased due to the normal physiological changes that accompany aging, including slower reaction times, poorer nighttime vision, reduced depth perception, reduced visual contrast sensitivity, and reduced ability to divide attention time.
- Plan for an aging population.
- Improve the roadway/driving environment.
- Identify senior drivers at increased risk of crashing and intervene.
- Improve the driving competency of seniors.
- Reduce the risk of injury and death to seniors.
Download this guide:
The increased risk of senior drivers dying in crashes may be as much a result of their increased fragility as increased propensity to crashes. This guide addresses the reduction of crashes and fatalities involving senior drivers. It provides engineering, planning, education, and policy guidance to highway agencies that desire to better accommodate older drivers’ special needs.
Download the guide in PDF
View the Guide and Appendices in HTML
Order a printed copy
Older Drivers One Pager
Self Assessment Tool
Integrated Safety Management Process