There are more licensed drivers over the age of retirement on the highways and roads of Pennsylvania every year. Reports and studies on the phenomenon of aging drivers indicates that they tend to be safer in their driving habits and practices, but they still suffer fatal injuries at a disproportionate rate.
Drivers over age 70 meet their demise in car accidents at a more frequent rate than younger drivers, but it appears that it is not necessarily because they are involved in more accidents. Of the more than 36 million licensed drivers at or over age 65 in 2012, no particular tendencies towards accidents were noted. As a matter of fact, it was a marked predilection of older drivers to drive more slowly, to drive during safer hours and to prefer to travel when conditions were clear. Studies have also found that older drivers are less prone to get behind the wheel while impaired by alcohol than younger motorists.
The cause of their heightened mortality is believed to be the increasing fragility of their health. Accidents that might not have been fatal to younger and healthier drivers would more often cost senior citizens their lives.
Despite all precautions, older drivers will sometimes cause car accidents for a variety of reasons. A person who is injured in such an accident that was the result of driver negligence may want to meet with a personal injury attorney to determine the methods that may be available for seeking compensation for medical expenses and other losses that have been sustained.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Older Adult Drivers”, accessed on Dec. 4, 2015