While relatively small in number, statistics show that older drivers are over-represented in serious injury crashes per kilometre travelled. Current estimates suggest that this safety problem will grow substantially over the next 20 to 30 years. The proportion of older people in the community is expected to increase, and tomorrow's older drivers are likely to have higher licensing rates, are likely to travel greater distances, and are likely to live longer than today's older driver cohort. While a range of factors may temper this problem to some extent, such as improvements in the traffic environment, increased crashworthiness of cars, and increased driver fitness, it is anticipated that improving older driver safety represents a major challenge for road safety and the Vision Zero philosophy. A unique opportunity exists to address this road safety problem before it becomes a major safety issue. The paper analyses the likely growth in older driver mobility as the population 'greys', and discusses a range of safety initiatives and research necessary to address the older driver safety problem. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E205861.
Abstract