Abstract
Traffic risks of the elderly in the Netherlands are discussed in the light of Wilde's theory of risk- homeostasis. It appears that accident rates are fairly close to avarage while injury rates and particularly mortality rates are abnormally high, particularly in pedestrians and cyclists. In the second part of the paper factors contributing to impaired perceptuo- motor functioning as a result of ageing and the way in which people (can) compensate for these impairments are discussed in the framework of Michon's hierarchical model of traffic behaviour.