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Fact Sheet for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety's Older Driver Involvement in Injury Crashes in Texas 1975-1999
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Report produced by Dr. Lindsay Griffin at the Texas Transportation Institute.
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Study analyzed 25 years of police-level crash data from nearly 4 million injury crashes in Texas to determine the association between driver age and four factors: fragility, illness, perceptual lapses, and left turns crashes.
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Although the study examined just Texas crash data, the size of the sample produced findings of national interest, and the findings are consistent with earlier national studies.
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Three age thresholds were used in defining this group: 65 and older, 75 and older, and 85 and older. Drivers aged 55 to 64, those nearing traditional retirement age, constituted the comparison group in the analyses.
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Crash type (single-vehicle vs. multiple-vehicle), population density (rural vs. urban), driver sex (male vs. female), light condition (daylight vs. darkness), and intersection relatedness were considered.
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Compared to drivers aged 55-64:
- Drivers 65+ years of age were 1.78 times as likely to die
- Drivers 75+ years of age were 2.59 times as likely to die
- Drivers 85+ years of age were 3.72 times as likely to die
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Compared to drivers aged 55-64, the three older age groups became progressively more likely to:
- Have been ill or suffering some other physical ailment at the time of their crashes
- Have suffered perceptual lapses that contributed to their crashes (such as failure to yield the right of way or disregarding signs or signals)
- Have been involved in left-turn crashes
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