Getting drivers to renew their licence in person can reduce deaths among people over 85 by nearly a fifth, shows research from the United States. Eye tests, road tests, and more frequent licence renewals fail to show a similar impact. At present, 14% of drivers who die in the United States are people aged 65 and over, although the highest death rate is among teenage male drivers. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the proportion of deaths among people over 65 will reach 25% by 2030. “Driver fatalities have decreased overall, but they have increased for older drivers, especially for the older old — those over 85,” said lead author Dr David Grabowski, assistant professor at the Department of Healthcare Organization and Policy at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. “We’ll see more and more older drivers with the aging of the baby boom generation. Licensing laws are one way to address the problem.” The study, published in JAMA (2004;291:2840-6), retrospectively analysed all fatal crashes in the 48 contiguous states (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington, DC) from 1990 to 2000. Altogether there were 74.428 deaths among drivers 65 and over during this period and 231.488 deaths among drivers aged 25-64. (Author/publisher)
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