Study: Senior Drivers Safer Than Teens

You might think that gray-haired driver next to you is a danger, but in reality it’s the teenager behind the wheel you should be more worried about, according to a new study by the Rand Corporation.

The study finds that drivers 65 and older are one-third as likely to cause accidents as drivers ages 15 to 24. “By far, it is the youngest drivers who pose the greatest risk to traffic safety,” researcher David Loughran, a Rand senior economist, said in a statement. The study found that older drivers account for roughly 15 percent of U.S. drivers, but that they cause only 7 percent of accidents, a rate far lower than young drivers.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that older drivers are more frail and are seven times more likely to die in a two-car accident than younger drivers, the study found.

Senior Drivers a Hazard? Young Are Worst: U.S. Study (Reuters)