Massachusetts Personal Injury Library
Senior Drivers: Risks and Safety Concerns (Part A)
No adult wants to have to confront an elderly parent and ask them to consider:
“Are you a safe senior driver?”
It is understandable that a child would not want to question their parent’s abilities or threaten their independence, but without honest dialogue and an evaluation of an elderly driver and their skills and capabilities, everyone’s safety on the road is at risk. A person doesn’t become a dangerous driver simply because they are elderly. However, statistics demonstrate that the likelihood of a car accident increases as a driver ages.
The American Geriatrics Society says “the number of accidents per mile driven goes up around age 60, and gets much higher after 75.” Drivers older than 65 years have some of the highest accident rates, second only to teen drivers. This information is particularly troubling when stacked with the statistics for population growth in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that in the next 20 years, the population of those older than 75 years will grow from 18 million to 31 million.
The National Safety Council estimates that with the significant increase in elderly drivers, there could be up to 100,000 older driver deaths between 2008 and 2028.
Health Concerns for Senior Drivers
There are many health concerns that contribute to diminished driving capacity for older drivers. These factors can greatly increase the chance for senior driver accidents.
Among those health concerns, here are a few of the most common:
- Problems with vision, including glaucoma, macular degeneration and cataracts.
- Age-related dementia
- Alzheimer’s disease, which is among one of the fastest growing diseases in the United States.
- Stroke, arthritis and diabetes that can impact flexibility, mobility and reaction time.
- Parkinson’s disease
- Medications which can affect a driver’s ability to safely operate a vehicle.
- Hearing loss that makes it difficult for drivers to recognize approaching emergency vehicles, car horns, train signals and other audible warnings.
- Many older adults have trouble sleeping through the night, leading to daytime drowsiness.
If you have been the victim of a car accident caused by a senior driver’s negligence in Massachusetts, you should consult with a personal injury attorney who specializes in senior driving issues in your area. It is important that the lawyer has handled these types of cases and that the attorney understands the issues surrounding the risks and concerns of elderly drivers.
Boston personal injury lawyer Thomas Kiley, from the Kiley Law Group, has fought on behalf of accident victims for over 30 years and has secured over hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.
Continue to Senior Drivers: Risks and Safety Concerns (Part B) >>
