This article describes a study of the fatal crash risks experienced by younger and older drivers compared to drivers overall. It examines the extent to which the known differences among drivers of different ages are reflected in the types of fatal crashes they have. Researchers from the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) used five years' worth of data, broken down into three age categories and applied 24 variables to each reported fatal crash. Younger drivers with at least two other people in the car were much more likely to die in a crash. Drivers younger than 21 were nearly three times as likely to be unlicensed at the time of the crash. Older drivers tended to disregard stop signs/lights or signals, fail to yield right of way and tended to experience fatal crashes more often when two vehicles were approaching at an angle.
Abstract