Older Road Users: A literature review and exploratory analysis of fatalities and serious injury collisions in relation to older road users: Implications for education, engineering and enforcement initiatives

Evidence suggests older road users are over represented in fatal and serious injury collisions. This is, in part, because as people get older they become more fragile and so more vulnerable to injury if they are involved in a collision. Older road users were not at more risk of being involved in slight injury collisions than other age groups.

Examination of local (Cornwall) and national collision data suggest collisions involving older road users tend to occur during the day between 9am-6pm on A class, single carriageway roads that have speed limits of 60 or 30mph.

Car occupant collisions occur mostly on rural roads, however, pedestrian collisions occur mostly on urban roads. All three road user groups are involved in a high number of collisions at junctions, particularly stag and T junctions. Failing to judge another person’s speed or path, failing to look properly and loss of control were key contributory factors.

Driver casualties were predominately male, compared to passenger casualties who were predominantly female. Pedestrian casualties had a slightly more even gender divide.