Facts
The high incidence of collisions and the stubbornly slow rate of reduction in the number of collisions in which someone is killed or seriously injured involving an older driver is likely to get worse with the ageing population. This is why older drivers are one of the 3 main groups of road users specifically targeted by the Think! Norfolk Partnership in 2010/11.
The current countywide reduction against baseline for collisions involving elderly drivers (aged 70+) is 22% (compared to 47% all ages). 11% of people killed or seriously injured in Norfolk were aged 70+ compared with 8% nationally. 20% of all people killed or seriously injured were hurt in collisions involving an older driver (the trend is slowly rising). Elderly road users were deemed blameworthy in 67% of these incidents.
Further analysis of the incidents found the following:
- 62% were car occupants compared to all ages 52%
- 38% driver, 24% passenger
- 1% riders of powered two wheelers (compared to all ages 21%)
- 23% pedestrian (mainly built up areas) compared to all ages 13%
In addition, 62% occur at junctions and 67% occur on high speed roads; the commonest manoeuvres involved are turns at junctions, followed by head-on collisions and loss of control.
Rural areas particularly in the north of the county have the greatest numbers of older road user casualties.
The top 5 contributory factors for older drivers/riders countywide reveals:
- Failed to look (50%) incidence rises with age
- Poor turn or manoeuvre (20%) incidence rises with age
- Fail to judge other’s speed (18%) incidence static with age
- Disobey junction control (13%) incidence rises markedly with age
- Loss of control (11%) incidence falls with age
- To download a copy of this graph please see the download section to the right of this page.
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To find out more about general road safety facts for the County please click here.
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To find out more about younger driver facts please click here.
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To find out more about motorcyclists facts please click here.
