In 2014 there were 5,709 people 65 and older killed and an estimated 221,000 injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes. Older people made up 17 percent of all traffic fatalities and 9 percent of all people injured in traffic crashes during the year. Compared to 2013, there was very little change, less than 1 percent, in the numbers of both fatalities and those injured in the older age group. In 2014 some 46.2 million people – about 14.5 percent of the total U.S. resident population – were 65 and older. Over the past decade the fatality rate per 100,000 population of older people has steadily declined from 17.8 in 2005 to 12.3 in 2014. Figure 1 shows motor vehicle traffic fatality rates according to age groups. For the purposes of this fact sheet, the term older–in relation to population, drivers, occupants, and non-occupants–refers to people 65 and older. In this fact sheet, the 2014 older population information is presented in the following order. * Overview * Older Drivers * Older Population Age Groups * Older Pedestrians * Driver Involvement in Fatal Crashes by State and Age Group * Fatalities by State and Age Group. (Author/publisher)
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