During the next 30 years, the United States will face increasing challenges
concerning the burgeoning number of senior drivers. According to the U.S. Department
of Transportation, there are 35 million Americans age 65 and older, approximately
13 percent of the population. By 2030, this figure will double to 70 million
persons, projected to be 20 percent of the population. This trend is a major
concern because drivers age 65 and older experience higher crash death rates
per mile driven than all age categories, other than teenagers. In addition,
many studies show that these drivers, particularly those age 80 and over, also
pose higher risks to other persons on the road and pedestrians.
This issue is a multifaceted one, in which the goal is to provide a safe
driving environment for all persons but also to recognize seniors' important
need for independence, greatly enhanced by their automobiles. Fortunately, there
are many measures society can take to strike the right balance. For example,
proper treatment of functional impairments, including visual problems is a key
ingredient. A reexamination of licensing laws for seniors is important in determining
methodologies for seniors to keep their driver's licenses as long as safely
possible. Improvements in roadway design and safety advances in vehicle design
will also assist in reducing senior deaths on the highways.
Reviewing this issue from various angles is essential in developing solutions.
This article focuses on some of the statistics surrounding older drivers and
automobile accidents as well as recommendations to insurers that insure elderly
drivers. For the full-length white paper on this topic, delving in much greater
detail into the societal aspects, licensing laws, road/safety advances, and
further research, see "Senior
Driver Issues: Upcoming Challenges and Solutions."
Older Drivers and Automobile Accidents
Numerous studies have focused on senior driver involvements in automobile
accidents. The conclusions are not always consistent, but the statistical datum
generally shows a positive link between older drivers and higher fatality rates,
primarily due to greater fragility in this age group. Other research has focused
on the types of accidents seniors tend to be involved in and the kinds of functional
impairments they often face. It is important to recognize, however, that many
elderly drivers become aware of their limitations on their own and reduce their
driving exposures accordingly. Automobile insurers should keep abreast of the
latest analytical data on senior drivers and not categorically deem them unsafe.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
drivers 70 years and older account for approximately 9 percent of the U.S. population.
However, these older drivers, who drive far less frequently than other age groups,
still account for 12 percent of all traffic fatalities, 12 percent of all vehicle
occupant fatalities, and 17 percent of all pedestrian fatalities.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) published a major study
in 2002 concerning senior drivers and automobile accidents. IIHS calculated
driver involvement rates for all police-reported accidents by age group, on
a per capita, per licensed driver, and per vehicle-mile of travel for 1990 and
1995. The results indicated that driver crash involvement rates decreased with
age when comparing younger drivers to middle age drivers, but automobile accident
and death rates increased at age 70 and beyond.1
The American Automobile Association (AAA) Foundation for Traffic Safety published
a 2004 study conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M that
analyzed all injury accidents in Texas between 1975 and 1999. (This study consisted
of a review of 4 million accident records.) According to the study, drivers
age 65 to 74 are nearly twice as likely to die as a result of an injury accident
as those ages 55 to 64. For motorists age 75 and older, the proportion increases
to 2.5 times. For drivers age 85 and above, the proportion skyrockets to nearly
4 times.2
Functional Impairments and Accidents
Various studies indicate that senior drivers tend to become involved in certain
types of automobile accidents. For example, because older people lose some of
their functional capabilities, intersection-related crashes are relatively more
frequent for this age group. In particular, left turns appear problematic for
seniors. Research also indicates more difficulties for senior drivers when entering
and exiting freeways. Also, as people age, their bodies become increasingly
fragile and more subject to serous injury or death in automobile accidents.
Senior drivers tend to experience more functional impairments—visual, cognitive,
and physical—as compared to other age groups.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has noted that senior
drivers with cognitive impairments, such as poor visual attention, memory, and
reasoning, are at least twice as likely to be involved in a crash as compared
to drivers without these types of impairments.3
Various tests have been used to study accident proneness in drivers suffering
from the early and middle stages of Alzheimer's disease. Virtually all experts
concur that driving is dangerous and unwarranted in persons with moderate to
severe cases of Alzheimer's. There is a lack of consensus, however, concerning
whether persons in the early stages of this disease should drive.
Poor physical abilities are another functional impairment some senior drivers
experience. Several facets of motor skills for driving include strength; gross
and fine coordination; range of motion of the head, neck, arms, and legs; and
balance. One study found that range of motion is particularly important in avoiding
auto accidents.4
Senior Driver Awareness and Adaptation
Most studies indicate that seniors tend to drive less as they age. An Ontario
study emphasized that not only is exposure reduced overall, but high-risk exposure
is reduced even more.5 Some senior drivers, particularly
those with acute visual problems, make the strategic decision to stop driving.
Others will successfully self-regulate their driving, by driving only during
the day, only during non-rush hour times, and only on familiar streets while
avoiding freeways.
Some surveys, however, indicate that older drivers are not always cognizant
of a reduction in their visual, cognitive, and physical abilities. For instance,
many do not link their visual problems with an increased chance of accidents.
There are numerous treatments available to reduce visual, cognitive, and physical
impairments of elderly drivers. However, elderly drivers often fail to recognize
their declining vision, since symptoms can develop slowly. For example, senior
drivers with cataracts, a slowly evolving disease common to this age group,
experience a restriction in their driving mobility and an increased chance for
accidents, especially at night. However, chronic eye conditions such as cataracts
and refractive error can normally be remedied through surgery and corrective
glasses or contacts.
Elderly Driver Licensing Laws
Although state Departments of Motor Vehicles (DMVs) have increased graduated
driving privileges for younger drivers, less action has occurred concerning
older drivers. Typically, measuring visual acuity is the most common test state
DMVs use to monitor senior driver abilities. However, tougher renewal restrictions
for older drivers, often called de-licensing laws, are gaining momentum in some
states. Some of the areas the states are focusing on for elderly drivers include
the following.
Recommendations for Insuring Elderly Drivers
Personal automobile insurers need to regularly review the latest research
on elderly drivers and automobile accidents. This relationship is complex and
insurers would be remiss by assuming that elderly drivers, as a whole, are inherently
dangerous and should pay much higher automobile insurance rates. This situation
was often the case in the 1970s and 1980s when many insurers even refused to
insure new automobile insurance applicants over age 75 or 80.
With elderly drivers often reducing their driving exposures voluntarily,
the pure number of accidents, as the evidence suggests, are fewer than many
other age groups. Insurers should look at rating plans that would decrease premiums
for seniors who drive a very small number of miles (e.g., 2,000) per year. In
addition, since seniors are less likely to speed, their chances of seriously
injuring other parties is less, as compared to young operators. Individualized
underwriting approaches to senior drivers, such as looking closely at prior
accidents and violations and annual driving distances is the wise and fair approach
for insurers to take.
Conclusion
Seniors need to maintain their independence, especially regarding their driving,
as long as they can safely do so. When the elderly lose their driving privileges
and their mobility, they often experience increased isolation, resulting in
higher incidents of depression and other health problems. Thus, with the baby
boomer generation approaching their senior years, this issue becomes even more
critical and it becomes essential to find ways to lessen elderly drivers' frequency
and severity of automobile accidents.
This effort should be pursued now, attacking this complex issue from a variety
of angles. Proactively addressing this challenge in the near future and not
in 30 years will result in great strides toward resolving one of the most important
transportation and safety issues the United States will face in the coming decades.