Michigan crash data from 1998 to 2002 were analysed for trends in motor-vehicle crashes that involved motorists and pedestrians age 65 and older. The number of crashes and crash rates were obtained for all older drivers and for older drivers by sex and by age. Injury severity, safety belt use, and hazardous actions in single and multi-vehicle crashes were examined. The results show that over the 5-year period the number of crashes involving older drivers decreased by 6%, fatal and serious injury crashes decreased by 23%, and crashes in which an older driver had been drinking decreased by 27%. The number of older persons fatally or severely injured in motor vehicle crashes decreased by 23%. The proportion of fatal and serious injury crashes and had-been-drinking crashes that involved older drivers did not change over the 5-year period and the trends were similar to the overall crash trends in Michigan, indicating stability in the crash patterns of older drivers. Safety belt use among older motorists, already very high in 1998, increased to 98% by 2002. Of the older drivers and passengers killed over the five year period, 34% were not using safety belts. The number of crash-involved older pedestrians decreased by 5% over the 5-year period, but their proportion among all crash-involved pedestrians remained at 2-3%. (Author/publisher)
Abstract