Welcome back to the SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts blog series! Each day this week we're featuring recent data on some of California's most pressing traffic safety issues. In case you missed it, yesterday's post was on alcohol-impaired driving.
In today's post, explore SafeTREC's fact sheet on aging road users. Tomorrow, we'll be highlighting the facts on bicycle safety.
SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Aging Road Users
In 2016, a total of 6,764 people age 65 and older were killed in collisions nationwide, which is a 7% increase from 6,238 in 2015. The older adult population of the United States—those 65 and older—is expected to nearly double between 2012 and 2050, from 43.1 million to 83.7 million. The older population accounted for 15.2 percent of residents in the U.S. and 18.8 percent of all licensed drivers in 2016. As drivers age, possible physical and mental changes including reduced visual acuity, increased fragility, restricted movement, and cognitive impairment may directly and indirectly result in age-related driving impairments. Read the full SafeTREC Aging Road Users Fact Sheet to explore our findings.
