Fatality Facts: Elderly

Road Injury Prevention & Litigation Journal

January, 2001
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Fatality Facts: Elderly

(This article is reproduced, with permission, from the website of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety at http://www.highwaysafety.org.)

Relatively few deaths of elderly people (1 percent or fewer) involve motor vehicles. Cancer, heart disease, and stroke are the leading causes of death among people 65 years and older. Proportionally, fewer elderly people are licensed to drive, compared with those age 20 to 64, and they drive fewer miles per licensed driver.

On the other hand, there's cause for concern when elderly people do drive because they have higher rates of fatal crashes than all but the youngest drivers, especially per mile driven. A problem is that elderly drivers don't deal as well as younger ones with complex traffic situations, and multiple-vehicle crashes at intersections increase markedly with age. Elderly drivers are more likely to get traffic citations for failing to yield, turning improperly, and running stop signs and red lights. ²

Once they're in crashes, elderly people are more susceptible than younger people to medical complications following motor vehicle crash injuries. This means they're more likely to die from their injuries. The number of elderly people is increasing along with licensure rates and miles driven. This will exacerbate the problem.

The following facts are based on analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System:

7,088 people 65 years and older died in motor vehicle crashes in 1999. This is a 3 percent drop since 1998 but a 33 percent increase since 1975.
Eighty-one percent of elderly deaths in 1999 motor vehicle crashes were passenger vehicle occupants, and 15 percent were pedestrians.
People 65 years and older represented 13 percent of the population in 1999 and 17 percent of motor vehicle deaths. By 2030, elderly people are expected to represent 20 percent of the population.

POPULATION, MILEAGE, AND LICENSURE RATES

People age 75 and older have more motor vehicle deaths per 100,000 people (25) than other groups except people younger than 25 (29).
Per mile driven, drivers 75 years and older have higher rates of fatal motor vehicle crashes than drivers in other age groups except teenagers.
Per licensed driver, fatal crash rates rise sharply at age 70 and older.

CRASH TYPES

About half of fatal crashes involving drivers 80 years and older occur at intersections and involve more than one vehicle. This compares with 23 percent among drivers up to age 50.
People 80 years and older have the highest pedestrian death rates per 100,000 people.
At age 80 and older, the pedestrian death rate per 100,000 among men is more than 3 times as high as for younger pedestrians.

GENDER DIFFERENCES

The motor vehicle death rate per 100,000 people begins to rise among males at age 70. By age 80 and older, the rate among men is more than twice as high as it is at age 40-74.
At all ages, males have much higher motor vehicle death rates per 100,000 people compared with females. By age 85 and older, the rate is 3 times as high among men as among women.

TABLES

MOTOR VEHICLE DEATHS, PEOPLE 65 YEARS AND OLDER
	Passenger Vehicles	Pedestrians	Other	Total
1975	3,391	1,744	191	5,326
1976	3,556	1,663	175	5,394
1977	3,431	1,779	164	5,374
1978	3,653	1,608	165	5,426
1979	3,480	1,685	180	5,345
1980	3,426	1,728	187	5,341
1981	3,513	1,628	171	5,312
1982	3,388	1,449	168	5,005
1983	3,528	1,388	161	5,077
1984	3,854	1,463	188	5,505
1985	3,961	1,454	157	5,572
1986	4,271	1,430	202	5,903
1987	4,451	1,483	194	6,128
1988	4,771	1,596	185	6,552
1989	4,911	1,467	186	6,564
1990	4,715	1,503	209	6,427
1991	4,897	1,292	175	6,364
1992	4,939	1,272	165	6,376
1993	5,179	1,259	207	6,645
1994	5,485	1,264	197	6,946
1995	5,537	1,263	199	6,999
1996	5,691	1,210	212	7,113
1997	5,954	1,174	280	7,408
1998	5,882	1,176	230	7,288
1999	5,716	1,084	288	7,088

MOTOR VEHICLE DEATHS PER 100,000 PEOPLE, 1999
Age	Male	Female	All
16-19	39	21	30
20-24	41	14	28
25-29	30	10	20
30-34	23	9	16
35-39	21	9	15
40-44	21	9	15
45-49	20	8	14
50-54	19	8	13
55-59	19	9	14
60-64	18	10	14
65-69	21	11	16
70-74	23	14	18
75-79	29	16	22
80-84	42	20	28
>=85	49	16	26

PASSENGER VEHICLE DRIVER DEATHS PER 100,000 LICENSED DRIVERS, 1999
Age	Male	Female	All
16-19	35	17	26
20-24	27	11	20
25-29	17	7	12
30-34	13	6	10
35-39	12	6	9
40-44	12	6	9
45-49	11	5	8
50-54	10	5	8
55-59	11	5	8
60-64	11	6	8
65-69	14	7	10
>=70	24	12	18

PERCENT DISTRIBUTION OF PASSENGER VEHICLE DRIVERS IN FATAL CRASHES BY TYPE, 1999
Age	Multiple Vehicle Intersection	Single Vehicle	All Other
16-19	23	45	32
20-24	22	45	33
25-29	22	41	37
30-34	24	38	38
35-39	25	38	37
40-44	24	36	39
45-49	26	34	40
50-54	27	32	41
55-59	26	33	41
60-64	29	31	40
65-69	33	29	38
70-74	38	26	35
75-79	43	25	32
80-84	48	23	29
>=85	49	20	31

PEDESTRIAN DEATHS PER 100,000 PEOPLE, 1999
Age	Male	Female	All
<13	1	1	1
13-15	1	1	1
16-19	2	1	1
20-24	2	1	2
25-29	3	1	2
30-34	3	1	2
35-39	3	1	2
40-44	3	1	2
45-49	3	1	2
50-54	3	1	2
55-59	3	1	2
60-64	3	1	2
65-69	3	1	2
70-74	4	2	3
75-79	5	2	3
80-84	7	3	4
>=85	8	3	5

REFERENCES

¹ Federal Highway Administration. 1997. 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation.

² California Department of Motor Vehicles and Beverly Foundation. 1997. Teen and senior drivers. Sacramento, CA: Department of Motor Vehicles CAL- DMV-97-168.

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