As the first of the baby boomers reaches the age of 65, changes are coming for the motorist population. Over the next three decades, the number of people over the age of 65 is expected to double, which will, in turn, place a greater number of older drivers on the road.
Many of these aging baby boomers live in communities where they have no choice but to drive, while others will simply opt not to surrender the mobility that driving enables. Regardless of the reason, though, the overall aging of the driving population may have significant implications for the safety of the roads.
Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) convened a public forum to address this concern, titled Safety, Mobility, and Aging Drivers. At the forum, a variety of experts were called upon to discuss the transportation risks related to aging and the steps that may be taken to reduce these risks.
One panel considered the decreased injury tolerance that comes with age - when older drivers are injured in car accidents, they may not recover as quickly or as fully as their younger counterparts. Another panel considered ways to effectively evaluate driver capability, including both physical and mental capacity.
However, despite the clear governmental concern about the aging driver population, some recent research suggests that these concerns might not be warranted. While it was traditionally assumed that older drivers posed a greater safety hazard than younger drivers, the most recent data remains a bit puzzling.
According to the Washington Post, elderly drivers are actually becoming safer drivers than they had been previously; the number of fatal accidents among drivers over the age of 80 has decreased by nearly half. A report by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety notes that older drivers are driving more frequently and having fewer accidents.
However, researchers do not yet understand these trends. Hopefully with increased focus on this issue, researchers will be able to ascertain the most effective ways to keep the roads safe as the number of older drivers on the roads increases.
