Older road users--vehicle drivers, occupants, pedestrians, and cyclists--clearly have a higher risk of serious injury and fatality in traffic, but the question of whether they also are at higher risk of crashes remains unresolved. Older persons' greater physical vulnerability leads to an overrepresentation of their crashes in databases based on injury outcome. Similarly, their risk estimates based on mileage driven are overestimated when compared with those of younger drivers with a higher yearly mileage. Older drivers' crash-type distribution reflects both their strengths and their weaknesses. Most of their crashes occur at intersections, and older drivers' crashes seldom involve speeding or risky overtaking. Attempts to relate crash risk to driver characteristics have successfully shown an increased risk related to certain illnesses such as dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT). In contrast, correlations between crash rates and measures of specific functional abilities in healthy older drivers typically have been low. As a consequence of their increasing participation in traffic, older drivers' share of traffic crashes undoubtedly will grow during the next few decades. However, future trends in crash rates may present a discontinuous development because of changes in the older driver population itself and in the physical and social operating environment.
Samenvatting