Assisting the older driver - SWOV

Assisting the older driver
1.2.1. Crash involvement
A comparison between the involvement in injury crashes per billion driver
kilometres of drivers from different age groups (Figure 1.3) reveals a picture
that very much resembles the one that was the result of the comparison
between the injury rates for different age groups (Figure 1.1). Again, the
youngest age group has the highest rate, followed by the oldest age group of
those aged 75 and above, and the group of drivers aged 25‐29. However,
when comparing the involvement in fatal crashes per billion driver kilometres
between drivers from different age groups (Figure 1.4), the result is different
from the comparison between the fatality rates for drivers from different age
groups (Figure 1.2). Whereas crash rates for fatal crashes are the highest for
the youngest group of drivers, fatality rates are the highest for the oldest
group of drivers. Therefore, it appears that the fatality rate for young drivers
is influenced more by their involvement in fatal crashes than is the case for
those aged 75 and above. Although older drivers are also more often
involved in fatal crashes than drivers aged 40‐59, their higher fatal crash rate
cannot fully account for the level of their fatality rate. Other factors that
could contribute to their high fatality rate are their physical vulnerability (see
Section 1.2.2), their driving experience (see Section 1.2.4), the types of crashes
they are involved in, and their driving behaviour (see Section 1.3).
1400
Crash rate (all injuries)
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
18‐24 25‐29 30‐39 40‐49 50‐59 60+ 65‐74 75+
Figure 1.3. The involvement of drivers in injury crashes (fatal and non‐fatal);
number of drivers involved in injury or fatal crashes per billion driver
kilometres of the age group concerned (1996‐1998). Source: Ministry of
Transport, Public Works and Water Management / Statistics Netherlands.
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