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Driving in old age: Seniors are so mobile on the road - and so safe are they on the road

2022-03-30T16:48:01.550Z


It's a hotly debated topic: should seniors still drive? How safe are you on the road? And how mobile are they anyway? There is now a new study on this – with some surprising results.


It's a hotly debated topic: should seniors still drive?

How safe are you on the road?

And how mobile are they anyway?

There is now a new study on this – with some surprising results.

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Stefan Arend is certain: "In our long-lived society, we have to adapt our view of old age," says the head of the Institute for Social Management and New Forms of Housing in Gräfelfing.

He deals with the challenges of demographic change and has conducted a study on the mobility of very old people over 80.

His conclusion: "We have to revise some prejudices," he says.

"Even very old people are still very mobile and regularly use their own car."

Arend interviewed 960 residents from 19 senior citizens' facilities across Germany.

104 people from Munich were also there.

The average age was 82 years.

84 percent of the participants stated that a car was a sign of independence for them.

85 percent use the car at least once a week.

The good news: "The number of accidents is manageable," says Arend.

89 percent of seniors drove accident-free in the past five years.

Ten percent had an accident, only one percent had more than one accident.

"Many older drivers develop strategies to avoid certain situations," says the researcher.

They also have many years of experience: on average, the men have had their driver's license since 1958 and the women since 1962. However, it is also striking that the accident risk increases with the frequency of car use on the one hand, but also with age and personal need for help on the other.

Regular medical checks are useful

The assessment of the ADAC is similar: "It is not the age that is decisive, but the individual state of health," says spokesman Alexander Kreipl.

"You can't say in general that older people are a risk in traffic." It is important to regularly check yourself critically and to have a doctor check you up.

Driver training can also increase competence.

"In new vehicles, driver assistance systems can compensate for many motor deficits," he explains.

The cars of those surveyed in Stefan Arend's study were nine years old on average and therefore relatively modern.

"There is a lot of interest in taking part in a training course," adds Arend.

"But you have to find the right offer that is tailored to the elderly." The older society gets, the more important it is to find new forms of support - and not just in car traffic.

"Seniors want to stay mobile," he emphasizes.

“We therefore have to work on accessibility in public space, for example.” In addition, there is a lack of data.

Many studies on road safety for seniors include people aged 65 and over.

"That's far too imprecise," says Arend.

That says the security report of the Munich police

In the security report by the Munich police, people over the age of 65 are also considered separately.

Accordingly, in 2021, people in this age group were involved in 13.2 percent of all accidents.

Their share of the total population is 18 percent.

The number of accidents involving senior citizens fell by 1.4 percent compared to the previous year 2021 to a total of 3621 accidents.

However, almost two thirds of road accidents involving seniors were also caused by seniors.

The most common causes: errors when turning, reversing, reversing, and entering and approaching traffic (876 cases).

However, senior citizens were not involved in all accidents at the wheel: in relation to all traffic accidents (with and without injuries), 60.2 percent of senior citizens were involved as pedestrians or cyclists.

Tragic: Of 15 road deaths in 2021, eight were older than 65.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-03-30

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