NATIONAL CRASH DATA FACT SHEET
* In 2005, 191,000 older individuals were injured in traffic crashes, accounting for 7 percent of all the people injured in traffic crashes during the year (NHTSA's National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2005)
* Older drivers have an excessively high rate of motor vehicle fatalities compared to other adult age groups, on a per vehicle mile traveled (VMT) basis
* Compared with middle-aged drivers, older drivers (65+) have about a 3-fold increased risk of crashing per mile driven (Foley, Heimovitz, Guralnik and Brock, American Journal of Public Health, August 2002)
* Drivers age 85 and older have about the same high crash rate per mile driven as 20-24 year olds (NCHRP Report 500 vol. 9, 2004)
* Most traffic fatalities involving older drivers in 2005 occurred during the daytime, on weekdays and involved other vehicles
* Older persons often travel with older drivers. The older person's greater susceptibility to physical injury greatly increases the chance that someone in an older driver's vehicle will be seriously injured or killed in a crash (Georgia DMVS 1996-2003 CASI Report)
* The most striking finding by age was the increased death rates among older drivers in side impact crashed per VMT: drivers age 75 or older were 13 times more likely to die than drivers ages 30-59. By comparison, the oldest drivers were about 6-7 times more likely to die in frontal or rear impact crashes per VMT than 30-59 year old drivers (Li, Braver and Chen, Accident Analysis & Prevention, March 2003)
* At the White House Conference on Aging-Mobility Resolution Ranks Third Among 73 Issues; Garners More Votes Than Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security Resolutions (www.publictransportation.org)