AGE AND FATAL MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS

A 2-YEAR STUDY (1955-56) OF FATAL TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS RECORDED WHETHER THE FATALITY WAS A DRIVER, A PASSENGER, OR A PEDESTRIAN. SEPARATE PLOTS OF 5-YEAR AGE GROUPS FROM 0 TO 85 AND OVER WERE MADE BY SEX. THE FIRST YEAR MALE FATALITIES COMPRISED 285 DRIVERS, 114 PASSENGERS, AND 36 PEDESTRIANS, THE SECOND YEAR, 315 DRIVERS, 124 PASSENGER, AND 56 PEDESTRIANS. THE SAME YEAR, FEMALE FATALITIES COMPRISED 48 DRIVERS, 140 PASSENGERS, AND 14 PEDESTRIANS. DRIVER FATALITIES SHOWED ALMOST A 9-TO-1 RATIO OF MALE TO FEMALE FOR 1955 AND ABOUT A 6-TO-1 RATIO IN 1956. A TABLE OF EXPECTANCIES WAS SET UP SHOWING APPROXIMATLEY 73.45 PERCENT MALE AND 26.56 PERCENT FEMALE DRIVER LICENSES FOR THOSE YEARS. AGES 15 AND ABOVE WERE USED IN MAKING CALCULATIONS ON DRIVERS. FURTHER FIGURES ARE GIVEN ON THE PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL LICENSED DRIVERS BY 10-YEAR AGE GROUPS AS AN ESTIMATE FOR THE UNITED STATES. THESE ESTIMATES ARE FOR USE IN FIGURING EXPECTANCIES BY AGE GROUPS. AN ANALYSIS IS MADE FOR THE 2-YEAR PERIOD BY AGE AND SEX WITH AN INDICATION OF RELATIVE PROPORTIONS AT EACH AGE LEVEL, AS WELL AS FOR THE TWO SEXES COMBINED. ESTIMATES OF DRIVER FATALITIES PER 100 MILLION MILES OF VEHICULAR TRAVEL ARE GRAPHED BY 5-YEAR AGE GROUPS FOR THE TWO SEXES. THE OVER-ALL RESULTS SHOW ALMOST TWICE AS MANY DRIVER FATALITIES PER 100 MILLION VEHICLE MILES OF TRAVEL FOR MEN AS FOR WOMEN. AT ONLY TWO POINTS DO THE CURVES OVERLAP--AGES 25-29 AND 60-64. THE DATA INDICATE NO NEED FOR FREQUENT REEXAMINATION OF DRIVERS THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE AGE GROUPS. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrbbulletin/212/212-004.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • No 212, pp 21-26, 1 FIG, 4 TAB, 3 REF Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Swanson, Clifford O
  • Schwenk, Lillian C
  • Lauer, A R
• Publication Date: 1959

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Pagination: 6p
• Monograph Title: Characteristics of vehicle operators
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Board Bulletin
  • Issue Number: 212
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Age; Crash analysis; Drivers; Driving tests; Fatalities; Gender; Traffic crashes; Vehicle miles of travel
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00222897
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Apr 28 1994 12:00AM