Older drivers’ road traffic crashes in the UK

A sample of over 2000 crashes involving drivers aged 60 years or over was considered, from three UK midland police forces, from the years 1994–2007 inclusive. Each case was summarized on a database including the main objective features (such as time and place), a summary narrative, a sketch plan and a list of explanatory factors.The main findings were that older drivers have significant problems with intersection collisions and failing to give right of way; these formed the largest single class of crashes in the sample. Possible behavioural explanations for this will be discussed, along with other findings regarding older driver blameworthiness, fatigue and illness, time of day factors, and ‘unintended accelerations’.