Fatality Facts 2005

Older people

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Overview | Population and mileage rates | Crash types | Alcohol

Motor vehicle crashes account for less than 1 percent of fatalities among people 70 and older; heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death.¹ Proportionally, fewer people ages 70 and older are licensed to drive compared with those ages 20-69, and they drive fewer miles per licensed driver. However, increasingly older drivers are keeping their licenses longer and driving more miles than ever before.

Older drivers have low rates of police-reported crash involvements per capita, but per mile traveled crash rates increase starting at age 75 for drivers and increase markedly after age 80. This is largely due to their increased susceptibility to injury, particularly chest injuries, and medical complications rather than an increased tendency to get into crashes.² Fragility begins to increase at ages 60-64. At age 75 older drivers begin to be markedly overinvolved in crashes, but fragility is the predominant factor explaining the elevated deaths per mile traveled among older drivers.²

The following facts are based on analysis of data from the US Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

Overview

A total of 5,032 people ages 70 and older died in motor vehicle crashes in 2005. This is 14 percent fewer than in 1997 when deaths peaked, but a 33 percent increase since 1975. The rate of fatalities per capita among older people has decreased 27 percent since 1975 and is now at its lowest level.

 

Motor vehicle crash deaths per 100,000 people 70 years and older, 1975-2005
Year	Population	Deaths	Rate
1975	14,563,945	3,775	26
1976	14,960,120	3,896	26
1977	15,401,249	3,859	25
1978	15,876,541	3,824	24
1979	16,388,617	3,772	23
1980	16,897,977	3,861	23
1981	17,322,714	3,871	22
1982	17,783,888	3,655	21
1983	18,233,751	3,733	20
1984	18,662,938	4,052	22
1985	19,072,785	4,206	22
1986	19,463,480	4,445	23
1987	19,890,817	4,555	23
1988	20,302,280	4,925	24
1989	20,719,397	4,943	24
1990	21,164,283	4,844	23
1991	21,751,897	4,843	22
1992	22,321,217	4,901	22
1993	22,800,673	5,221	23
1994	23,243,845	5,423	23
1995	23,693,757	5,509	23
1996	24,056,323	5,578	23
1997	24,408,817	5,871	24
1998	24,793,551	5,798	23
1999	25,092,805	5,657	23
2000	25,559,879	5,379	21
2001	25,797,467	5,425	21
2002	26,005,326	5,332	21
2003	26,200,946	5,363	20
2004	26,337,518	5,106	19
2005	26,658,669	5,032	19

Eighty percent of motor vehicle crash deaths in 2005 involving people 70 and older were passenger vehicle occupants, and 15 percent were pedestrians. Since 1975 deaths of older passenger vehicle occupants have increased 74 percent while deaths of older pedestrians have declined 43 percent. Although few older adults are killed while riding motorcycles, this number has risen. Thirteen times as many people 70 and older were killed on motorcycles in 2005 than in 1975. From 2004 to 2005 the number of people 70 and older killed on motorcycles increased 63 percent.

Motor vehicle crash deaths among people 70 and older, 1975-2005
Year	Passenger vehicle occupant deaths		Pedestrian deaths		Motorcyclist deaths		Other motor vehicle deaths		All motor vehicle deaths
	Num	%	Num	%	Num	%	Num	%	Num
1975	2,302	61	1,348	36	5	<1	120	3	3,775
1976	2,490	64	1,291	33	7	<1	108	3	3,896
1977	2,370	61	1,383	36	11	<1	95	2	3,859
1978	2,515	66	1,214	32	9	<1	86	2	3,824
1979	2,391	63	1,277	34	10	<1	94	2	3,772
1980	2,399	62	1,344	35	14	<1	104	3	3,861
1981	2,495	64	1,278	33	11	<1	87	2	3,871
1982	2,430	66	1,124	31	9	<1	92	3	3,655
1983	2,546	68	1,081	29	13	<1	94	3	3,734
1984	2,764	68	1,164	29	20	<1	104	3	4,052
1985	2,933	70	1,170	28	10	<1	93	2	4,206
1986	3,166	71	1,157	26	9	<1	113	3	4,445
1987	3,276	72	1,160	25	18	<1	101	2	4,555
1988	3,540	72	1,271	26	17	<1	97	2	4,925
1989	3,658	74	1,180	24	9	<1	96	2	4,943
1990	3,525	73	1,195	25	22	<1	102	2	4,844
1991	3,690	76	1,044	22	11	<1	98	2	4,843
1992	3,801	78	997	20	13	<1	90	2	4,901
1993	4,076	78	1,012	19	17	<1	116	2	5,221
1994	4,289	79	1,021	19	15	<1	100	2	5,425
1995	4,368	79	1,008	18	11	<1	122	2	5,509
1996	4,492	81	951	17	17	<1	118	2	5,578
1997	4,747	81	931	16	21	<1	173	3	5,872
1998	4,683	81	965	17	18	<1	132	2	5,798
1999	4,587	81	885	16	23	<1	162	3	5,657
2000	4,406	82	807	15	34	1	132	2	5,379
2001	4,389	81	878	16	36	1	122	2	5,425
2002	4,287	80	845	16	36	1	164	3	5,332
2003	4,377	82	777	14	48	1	161	3	5,363
2004	4,113	81	763	15	41	1	189	4	5,106
2005	4,006	80	770	15	67	1	189	4	5,032

Population and mileage rates

In 2005 motor vehicle crash deaths per capita among males began to increase markedly starting at ages 75-79. Among females the death rate began to increase at ages 60-64 and increased gradually until ages 80-84. Across all age groups males had substantially higher death rates than females.

 

Motor vehicle crash deaths per 100,000 people by age and gender, 2005
Age	Male			Female			Total
	Population	Deaths	Rate	Population	Deaths	Rate	Population	Deaths*	Rate
<16	33,305,469	1,334	4.0	31,781,247	1,012	3.2	65,086,716	2,348	3.6
16-19	8,541,332	2,992	35.0	8,111,201	1,467	18.1	16,652,533	4,459	26.8
20-24	10,856,936	4,498	41.4	10,180,924	1,364	13.4	21,037,860	5,862	27.9
25-29	10,268,169	2,964	28.9	9,797,533	888	9.1	20,065,702	3,852	19.2
30-34	10,153,091	2,402	23.7	9,924,119	830	8.4	20,077,210	3,232	16.1
35-39	10,563,375	2,274	21.5	10,438,579	853	8.2	21,001,954	3,127	14.9
40-44	11,376,664	2,473	21.7	11,483,846	970	8.4	22,860,510	3,443	15.1
45-49	11,106,575	2,361	21.3	11,377,948	934	8.2	22,484,523	3,295	14.7
50-54	9,788,780	2,101	21.5	10,208,962	771	7.6	19,997,742	2,872	14.4
55-59	8,425,070	1,643	19.5	8,928,608	728	8.2	17,353,678	2,371	13.7
60-64	6,201,648	1,211	19.5	6,800,215	602	8.9	13,001,863	1,813	13.9
65-69	4,721,791	944	20.0	5,409,653	536	9.9	10,131,444	1,480	14.6
70-74	3,807,605	827	21.7	4,700,764	509	10.8	8,508,369	1,336	15.7
75-79	3,117,774	818	26.2	4,294,039	591	13.8	7,411,813	1,410	19.0
80-84	2,161,671	684	31.6	3,480,878	535	15.4	5,642,549	1,219	21.6
≥ 85	1,603,796	599	37.3	3,492,142	468	13.4	5,095,938	1,067	20.9
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Between April 2001 and March 2002 the rate of passenger vehicle fatal crash involvements per 100 million miles traveled was higher for drivers 80 and older than for drivers of any other age group except teenagers. Drivers 85 and older had the highest rate of fatal crash involvement.³

 

Passenger vehicle fatal crash involvements per100 million miles traveled by driver age, April 2001–March 2002
Age	Passenger vehicle fatal crash involvements	Miles traveled	Rate
16	1,021	10,991,775,116	9.3
17	1,410	17,007,229,957	8.3
18	1,790	27,575,876,114	6.5
19	1,885	26,116,988,928	7.2
20-24	7,184	167,139,739,780	4.3
25-29	4,873	215,143,526,035	2.3
30-34	4,438	258,141,237,337	1.7
35-39	4,492	269,147,680,452	1.7
40-44	4,255	288,295,560,019	1.5
45-49	3,530	226,862,752,042	1.6
50-54	2,878	215,764,866,751	1.3
55-59	2,238	138,646,175,519	1.6
60-64	1,678	112,124,892,364	1.5
65-69	1,416	81,468,138,271	1.7
70-74	1,453	59,206,606,813	2.5
75-79	1,477	35,214,532,480	4.2
80-84	1,046	16,566,473,047	6.3
≥ 85	740	5,097,372,229	14.5

Crash types

Among passenger vehicle drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2005, the proportion involved in multiple-vehicle crashes at intersections was higher among drivers 70 and older than among those younger than 70. Multiple-vehicle crashes at intersections accounted for about half of fatal crash involvements among drivers 85 and older.

Passenger vehicle drivers in fatal crashes by age and crash type, 2005
Age	Multiple-vehicle intersection crashes		Single-vehicle crashes		Other multiple-vehicle crashes		All crashes
	Num	%	Num	%	Num	%	Num
16-19	1,162	22	2,448	46	1,724	32	5,334
20-24	1,427	20	3,280	46	2,474	34	7,181
25-29	1,039	21	2,101	42	1,903	38	5,043
30-34	943	23	1,651	40	1,582	38	4,176
35-39	910	23	1,527	39	1,512	38	3,949
40-44	969	24	1,451	36	1,667	41	4,087
45-49	839	22	1,328	36	1,568	42	3,735
50-54	716	23	1,074	35	1,298	42	3,088
55-59	609	24	820	32	1,126	44	2,555
60-64	522	26	646	33	819	41	1,987
65-69	438	29	469	31	588	39	1,495
70-74	447	34	392	30	479	36	1,318
75-79	480	41	306	26	399	34	1,185
80-84	428	44	238	24	315	32	981
≥ 85	354	48	166	22	219	30	739

The rate of pedestrian deaths per 100,000 people in 2005 was higher for people 70 and older than for those younger than 70. Pedestrians 80 and older had a fatality rate twice as high as all pedestrians younger than 80 combined. For all age groups the rate of pedestrian deaths per capita was higher for males than females.

Pedestrian deaths per 100,000 people by age and gender, 2005
Age	Male			Female			Total
	Population	Deaths	Rate	Population	Deaths	Rate	Population	Deaths*	Rate
<13	26,679,527	170	0.6	25,469,868	106	0.4	52,149,395	276	0.5
13-15	6,625,942	63	1.0	6,311,379	49	0.8	12,937,321	112	0.9
16-19	8,541,332	144	1.7	8,111,201	70	0.9	16,652,533	214	1.3
20-24	10,856,936	280	2.6	10,180,924	83	0.8	21,037,860	363	1.7
25-29	10,268,169	222	2.2	9,797,533	72	0.7	20,065,702	294	1.5
30-34	10,153,091	231	2.3	9,924,119	88	0.9	20,077,210	319	1.6
35-39	10,563,375	253	2.4	10,438,579	90	0.9	21,001,954	343	1.6
40-44	11,376,664	339	3.0	11,483,846	122	1.1	22,860,510	461	2.0
45-49	11,106,575	355	3.2	11,377,948	118	1.0	22,484,523	473	2.1
50-54	9,788,780	333	3.4	10,208,962	95	0.9	19,997,742	428	2.1
55-59	8,425,070	232	2.8	8,928,608	102	1.1	17,353,678	334	1.9
60-64	6,201,648	158	2.5	6,800,215	63	0.9	13,001,863	221	1.7
65-69	4,721,791	155	3.3	5,409,653	56	1.0	10,131,444	211	2.1
70-74	3,807,605	131	3.4	4,700,764	64	1.4	8,508,369	195	2.3
75-79	3,117,774	136	4.4	4,294,039	85	2.0	7,411,813	221	3.0
80-84	2,161,671	109	5.0	3,480,878	93	2.7	5,642,549	202	3.6
≥ 85	1,603,796	80	5.0	3,492,142	72	2.1	5,095,938	152	3.0
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Alcohol

Six percent of fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers 70 and older in 2005 had blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at or above 0.08 percent, compared with 15 percent for drivers ages 60-69 and 39 percent for drivers ages 16 to 59.

Fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers with BACs ≥ 0.08 by age, 2005
Age	Drivers killed	Estimated drivers killed with BACs ≥ 0.08
	Num	Num	%
16-59	17,098	6,650	39
60-69	1,858	276	15
≥ 70	2,828	160	6

References

¹National Safety Council. 2006. Injury facts, 2005-2006 edition. Itasca, IL: National Safety Council.

²Li, G.; Braver, E.R.; and Chen, L.H. 2003.Fragility versus excessive crash involvement as determinants of high death rates per vehicle-mile of travel among older drivers. Accident Analysis and Prevention 35:227-35.

³Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Unpublished study. Analysis of data from the US Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the National Household Travel Survey. Arlington, VA.