This paper challenges the idea that drivers become less safe as they get older. While older people have fewer slight accidents, more of them are killed in road accidents. This is explained on the basis that because of increasing personal fragility, they are less likely to survive an accident, rather than that they cause more road accidents. They are more likely to be killed as pedestrians or bus passengers than younger people. Old people are also more likely to travel less and avoid risky behaviour. The fatality rate per journey decreases with age up to age 60 and then increases. A policy which caused older car drivers to become pedestrians or pedal cyclists would on this basis increase the total number of road accident fatalities. Finland, which has a policy of retesting older drivers, has a larger total of fatalities for older road users than does Sweden, with no such policy. A high proportion of the Finnish elderly traffic fatalities are pedestrians and pedal cyclists. The casualty rate per mile increases for drivers over 65 but this is mainly a result of the increasing fragility of older people. Distance driven per year also decreases markedly with age. Older car drivers are most likely to have an accident at a junction, and to fail to yield right of way. A major proportion of old people killed on buses involves falling over within the bus. Policy issues include the provision of adequate public transport so that old people can choose not to drive, and provision of adequate pedestrian safety.
Abstract