The older a driver is, the higher the risk of a fatal car accident, a new study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Study shows. According to an article in the Times Herald Online, older drivers pose more of a threat to themselves than to others on the road and the risk of a car crash increases dramatically as they age. The AAA Foundation had analyzed data on fatal car accident from 1999 to 2003 to measure risk on a per-driver, per-trip and per-mile basis. What did researchers find? That, drivers 85 and older, are more likely to die in a car accident than any other age group. The reason for that is quite simple. Being older, they are just more susceptible to more serious personal injuries.

The AAA study also found that around age 70, a driver's risk to themselves and others on the road begins to increase and that risk increases at an even more rapid rate after 75. Drivers 85 and older are reportedly killed in car collisions about two to three times the rate of 16- and 17-year-old drivers. The study also found that older drivers pose substantially more risk to others per mile, than the lowest-risk middle-age drivers.

The dangers and risks posed by elderly drivers is nothing new to us in California. In the last three months, just based on news reports, we have seen a spike in personal injury accidents involving senior drivers in Orange, Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The high risk rate is especially troubling at a time when the U.S. Census Bureau projects that there will be 9.6 million people 85 and older by the year 2030, up 73 percent from the number today. Road safety analysts also predict that when all baby boomers are at least 65, they will be responsible for 25 percent of all fatal crashes. In 2005, 11 percent of fatal car accidents in the United States involved drivers 65 or older.

It's about time California strengthened its testing requirements for senior drivers. The only effective measure to combat the rate of fatal car crashes involving elderly drivers is to require them to appear at motor vehicle departments in person to renew their driver's licenses. But the fact remains that most states, including California, do not require senior drivers to pass road tests, which is a travesty because it can be critical in identifying drivers whose physical ability or mental awareness has diminished with age or illness. A change made to this existing requirement can help prevent several catastrophic injuries and deaths in California. If you or a loved one have been injured in a elderly driver car accident, please contact an experienced California car accident lawyer.

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