Intersection Crashes Among Drivers in Their 60s, 70s, and 80s

Analyses of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and National Automotive Sampling System (NASS)/General Estimates System (GES) data from 2002 – 2006 revealed specific performance errors and combinations of driver, vehicle, and roadway/environmental characteristics associated with older drivers’ crashes at intersections. For subsets of the two-vehicle crash data within each national database, crash involvement ratios based on comparisons of at-fault to not-at-fault drivers within groups of drivers age <20 to 80+, segregated in 10-year cohorts, provide exposure-adjusted estimates of the magnitude of particular risk factors. While FARS and GES data show elevated crash risk for older drivers, the effect was more pronounced in the FARS data. This exaggeration likely reflects increased frailty with increasing age; young and middle-aged drivers may have survived crashes that were fatal to the oldest drivers. While the data are consistent with the literature in that more complex driving tasks pose the most risk for older drivers, these data also provide information about the scale of the increased risk.