Older Driver Safety: Impact of Demographic Factors on Crash Frequency and Severity

Abstract: This research analyzes the effect of demographic factors on the frequency and injury severities resulting from motor vehicle crashes involving older drivers at a regional level. It is a case study of Mobile county in the state of Alabama. In this study, the crash data for Mobile County from 2014 to 2018 were filtered from the original police-reported crash data-base using the Critical Analysis Reporting Environment (CARE) software system developed by the University of Alabama Center for Advanced Public Safety. The demographic data and the necessary shape files for generating the maps on ArcGIS were retrieved from the US Census Bureau website. A spatial analysis was conducted to identify the roadway segments more susceptible to crashes involving older drivers compared to the other age groups. The age groups in this study were categorized as young drivers (16 to 24 years old), middle-age drivers (25-64 years old), and older drivers (65 years of age and older). For each age group, crash rates were calculated and compared for all crash severities (KABCO) as well as fatal and incapacitating injury (KA) only. The roadway segments that pose the highest risk to older drivers relative to the other age groups, for all severity types and for fatal and serious injury in Mobile county were identified. A possible correlation was examined between locations with higher percentage of elderly population and higher frequency of crashes involving older drives. Finally, a regression analysis was performed to investigate the possible factors responsible for crashes involving older drivers.