The increases in life expectancy that have taken place over the last few decades have meant that in percentage terms older groups in the population have been growing considerably faster than the population as a whole - a trend which is expected to continue. Moreover, the proportion of the older members of the population who hold driving licenses - particularly women - has also been increasing over the years and is expected to continue to do so in the future. In terms of accidents, the evidence submitted in this report suggests that accident liabilities of older drivers (accidents per year per 1,000 drivers) whether fatal and serious (KSI) or slight, increase for drivers over 70 despite the fact that the annual mileages driven by these older drivers is lower than those driven by the younger age groups. It follows therefore, that the increasing numbers of older drivers, in combination with their higher accident liabilities, are a cause of concern for road safety. This report describes calculations aimed at estimating the trends in the numbers of older drivers (over 60) by sex and age group over the next 20 years or so, the numbers of accidents in which they will be involved, and the resulting numbers of casualties. This study forms a part of a larger study of older drivers funded by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR). (Author/publisher)
Abstract