Driver's age and road crash: History
Please note this is an old version of this entry, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Contributor:

It has been widely reported that younger and older drivers have an excess risk of causing a road crash. Two casual hypotheses may coexist: the riskier driving behaviors and age-related mechanisms in extreme age groups (direct path) and the different environmental and vehicle circumstances (indirect path). Our aim was to quantify, through a mediation analysis, the percentage contribution of both paths. A case-control study was designed from the Spanish Register of Road Crashes with victims from 2014 to 2017. Assuming a quasi-induced exposure approach, controls were non-responsible drivers involved in clean collisions between two or more vehicles (n = 52,131). Responsible drivers for these collisions plus drivers involved in single crashes constituted the case group (n = 82,071). A logit model in which the outcome was the log (odds) of causing a road crash and the exposure was age groups was adjusted for driver, vehicle and environmental factors. The highest crash risk was observed in extreme age groups, compared to the 35-44 year old age group: the youngest (18-24 years old, odds ratio = 2.14, 95% confidence interval: 2.06-2.24) and the oldest drivers (>74 years old, odds ratio = 3.30, 95% confidence interval: 3.04-2.58). The mediation analysis identified the direct path as the main explanatory mechanism for these increases: 89% in the youngest and 93% in the oldest drivers. These data support the hypothesis that the excess crash risk observed for younger and older drivers is mainly related to their higher frequency of risky driving behaviors and age-related loss of capabilities. Preventive strategies in extreme-aged drivers should focus on decreasing these behaviors.

  • younger drivers
  • older drivers
  • road crash
  • risk factors
  • mediation analysis

Conclusions

In conclusion, our results support the hypothesis that most of the excess crash risk observed for the youngest and oldest drivers is primarily related to their higher frequency of risky driving behaviors or loss of capabilities and is much less dependent on the driving environment or on the vehicles they drove. This association was no different between men and women, or between crashes with minor or major victims. These results should be considered in order to prioritize preventive strategies intended to decrease road crashes among the youngest and oldest drivers. Future studies should be designed to focus on analyzing the concrete elements of these riskier driving behaviors, the identification and control of the potential loss of capabilities and exploring the usefulness of preventive programs for extreme-aged drivers.

 

Complete original article at: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/9041

This entry is offline, you can click here to edit this entry!