Citation

Hakamies-Blomqvist L. J. Traffic Med. 1994; 22(1): 19-25.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Previous findings based on fatal accidents were tested on a more extensive material consisting of all accidents that occurred in 1990 in Finland and were reported to traffic insurance companies. In addition, the absolute numbers of all accidents and of fatal accidents caused by older drivers were compared to those of younger drivers. Drivers aged 65 years or more caused 5.7% of all private car accidents and 10.5% of fatal accidents. Within the category of drivers aged 65 years or more, the age-related risk increase was more moderate than in corresponding studies on fatal accidents. In accordance with earlier findings involving fatal accidents, the older drivers' accidents occurred in good weather conditions and mostly in day time. The proportion of crossing accidents also increased in an analogous manner as was found previously in studies on fatal accidents, but there was a corresponding decrease of rear-end collisions rather than head-on collisions as in fatal accidents. In addition, in crossings, there was a greater-than-average age-related increase in the proportion of fatal accidents. All disparities found between the two sets of findings were smaller for older drivers than for younger drivers. It is concluded that conclusions regarding the behavioral processes of older drivers based on fatal accidents probably are generally representative.