Occupational Highway Transportation Deaths Among Workers Aged ≥55 Years — United States, 2003–2010

Highway transportation incidents are the leading cause of occupational fatalities in the United States, with the highest fatality rates occurring among workers aged ≥65 years. To characterize older workers at highest risk, CDC analyzed data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) for the period 2003-2010 and compared occupational highway transportation deaths among workers aged 55-64 years and ≥65 years with those among workers aged 18-54 years. This report describes the results of that analysis, which indicated that workers aged ≥65 years had the highest overall fatality rate (3.1 highway transportation deaths per 100,000 full-time-equivalent [FTE] workers per year), more than three times that of workers aged 18-54 years (0.9 per 100,000 FTE workers). This pattern held across demographic and occupational categories. These results demonstrate the need to further implement interventions that consider road safety risks specific to older workers.