The Dangers of Road Life

1408 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: An essay on elderly drivers

People think teenagers are the only horrid drivers. What they don’t think about is that there’s an age group of drivers who are far worse than teenagers.

Statistics show that people over the age of seventy cause more accidents and are in more accidents than teenage drivers. In 2008, more than 5,500 elders were killed in car accidents, and more than 183,00 were injured in car accidents(Older Adult Drivers). There are many reasons why elderly drivers are more likely to get into accidents that teenagers. Physical and mental changes are just some the causes of car accidents among elders. These include slowing down fast enough, the loss of clear vision and hearing, the loss of muscle strength and flexiblity, and drowsiness which cause reduction to the ability to focus on the surroundings while driving(West-Port News).

The most fatal crashes involving elders over the age of seventy, forty percent of these crashes occur at intersections. This percentage is compared to the age between thirty-five through fifty-four, which the percentage goes down to twenty-three. These crashes are due mostly to the failure the yield, or taking time to look in the opposite direction they were going. The percentage and age of elders in these crashes are eighty and older, with a fifty-eight percent rate. Eighteen of the U.S states require elderly drivers to renew their license, and take vision and hearing tests more than teenagers. The Senate has created two acts that have to do with the elder driving. SI929-The Act to Promote Safe Driving and SI901-The Act to Relative Certian Operators of Motor Vehicles(Elderly Driving Statistics).

Many states require elders to show that they are still capable of driving before they are issued a license. In all states, ...

... middle of paper ...

...5 Sep. 2011. Web. 8 May 2014.

Martin, Claire. “Most Lethal Driving Mistakes.” MNS Auto. Web. 13 May 2014.

“Old Adult Drivers: Get the Facts.” Injury Prevention and Control: Motor Vehicle Safety.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 31 Jan 2013. Web. 8 May 2014.

“Older Drivers.” Transport Accident Commission. Web. 13 May 2014.

Peters, R. “Ageing and the Brain.” Postcard Medical Journal. Feb. 2006. Web. 12 May 2014

“To Drive or Not to Drive.” Medicinenet.com. National Institute on Aging. 6 Jul 2004. Web.

8 May 2014.

“Should Elderly People Drive?” Web. www.debate.org 2013 9 May 2014

“Senior Driving” Facts and Research. Web. www.aaa.com 2011 9 May 2014

“Should Elderly Drivers be Retested?” www.westport-news.com Web. Hearst Media

Services. 9 May 2014

Span, Paula.”The New Old Age.” The New York Times. 27 May 2011. Web. 12 May

2014

Show More
Related

  • Policy Analysis of the Older Americans Act of 1965

    1567 Words  | 4 Pages

    Takamura, J.C. (1999). Getting ready for the 21st Century: The aging of America and the older

    Read More

  • Drivers Beware

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    " Web. The Web. The Web. 15 Mar. 2010. http://www.idebate.org. Gregory, Ted. A. Should 16-Year-Olds Drive?

    Read More

  • Increasing the Minimum Driving Age

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    Roan, Shari. "Driving Laws May Be Shifting the Fatalities to Older Teens." Los Angeles Times. 14 Sep 2011: A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 06 Feb 2012.

    Read More

  • Legal Driving Age in the State of Iowa

    2135 Words  | 5 Pages

    Statistics show 16- to 17-year-old driver death rates increase with each additional passenger, which is due to distracted driving. Taking your eyes off the road for 2 (two) seconds, at 60 mph, means you have driven blindly for half the length of a football field. The risk of fatality is 3.6 times higher, when they are driving with passengers than when alone. For many years, the correlation between driving behavior and age has interested highway safety researchers and administrators. It is general knowledge that the greatest risk of motor vehicle crash...

    Read More

  • Safe Driving

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    Teens need to be taught that driving is a task that is complex and demanding. Parents know how much experience a young driver has, and they know exactly how inconvenient it is when they have to drive with their teen everywhere while they have their permit. Teens tend to cause most traffic accidents in adults’ eyes. They are not experienced yet, and often fail to pay attention to others on the road. They often think of a car as being some type of toy, but they do not know how powerful it really is. The driver education programs must be strengthened in order to make sure that students really have safer habits, behind the wheel experience, and by having a better understanding of all the laws on the road.

    Read More

  • Current Driver’s Education: A Troubling Issue for America

    2252 Words  | 5 Pages

    “The Brutal Truth About Teen Driving.” JourneySafe. The Gillian Sabet Memorial Foundation Inc. Web. 29 Apr. 2010.

    Read More

  • Distracted Driving

    1228 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Car accidents are the No. 1 cause of death of teens” says Cricket Fuller, he also says that “a quarter of all teen-driving crashes are attributed to distract driving”. Even though the death rate of teen drivers is going down, an average of seven deaths a day still occur (Kowalski). Debacco-Ernie had said that “any time a teen driver is out on the road after 10 p.m., the probability of them being involved in a crash increases dramatically” (Carr).

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Elderly Drivers

    1261 Words  | 3 Pages

    Again, it makes the headlines; an older driver causes a dangerous automobile crash. As the amount of elderly driving has increased in the past decade, the risk for others to be out on the road has increased. In 2012, there were 36 million licensed older drivers in the United States. (Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation (US)) As a 34% increase from 1999, it has been noted that seniors are driving past their ability by an average of 10 years. (Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation (US)). Elderly continue to drive despite the prominent physiological changes that worsen as they age. The amount of automobile collisions suggests that prevention must occur in order to make the roads safer. By examining older drivers’ medical complications, older drivers must be retested to be able to drive a vehicle.

    Read More

  • Drinking And Driving

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    The biggest problem with drunk driving by young adults is the high rate of traffic accidents. Although young drivers ages 16 through 25 makeup only 15% of U.S. licensed drivers, they constitute 30 percent of all alcohol-related driving fatalities. This is double the amount of licensed drivers in that age group. Inexperience with both drinking and driving may contribute to this disproportionate rate. Nationwide in 1996, people ages 15 to 24 died in fatal motor vehicle crashes and 45 percent of those deaths were a result of alcohol (NHTSA 4). So it comes to no surprise that traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for people younger than 25 (NCHS 98).

    Read More

  • The Driving Age Should Be Increased

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for United States teens.1 In the first month of driving for a teen their crash risk is particularly high.5,6 Fourteen percent of the U.S. population is represented by young people of the ages fifteen to twenty. However they account for thirty percent (Nineteen billion dollars) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among males, and twenty-eight percent (Seven billion dollars) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among females. In 2012, two thousand eight hundred and twenty-three teenagers, between the ages of thirteen to nineteen, died in the United States from crash injuries.2 Seventy-nine percent of teenagers killed in crashes in 2012 were...

    Read More

  • The Driving Age Should be Raised

    1842 Words  | 4 Pages

    Teens only make up seventeen percent of the population today, but almost twenty percent of fatal crashes are due to teenagers behind the wheel. Growing numbers suggest changing the driving age to eighteen and some even believe that changing it to twenty-one may save even more lives. With a sixteen year old behind the wheel, accidents are even more likely to occur when compared to a seventeen year old (Boulard). With so much new technology in today’s society there are more distractions on the road than ever before; therefore the legal driving age should be raised to save more lives. If we do not act quickly, then more lives will be lost.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Car Safety

    1720 Words  | 4 Pages

    Teenagers are getting back on the roads and behind the wheel meaning the is a higher risk of accidents. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in 15-to 20-year olds. Automakers are creating ways to make their automobiles safer in order to reduce these deaths. Teenage drivers are inexperienced and need the extra protection to keep them safe if an incident was to occur. Automobile safety features are necessary for the teenage driver to stay protected and alert.

    Read More

  • Are Sixteen Year Olds Ready to Drive?

    1091 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sixteen year olds have a higher crash rate than drivers of any other age. “ in 2011, teenagers accounted for 10 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths” (Teen Driving Statistics). For this purpose, Many states have begun to raise the age limit by imposing restrictions on sixteen years old drivers. For example, limiting the number of passengers they can carry while driving. “The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released a report in May 2012 that showed that the risk of 16- or 17-year old drivers being killed in a crash increases with each additional teenage passenger in the vehicle. The risk increases 44 percent with one passenger; it doubles with two passengers, and quadruples with three or more passengers. The study analyzed crash data and the number of miles driven by 16- and 17-year olds” (Teen Driving Statistics). Another example, is that many people believe that teenage drivers have a race boy/girl mentality. This mean that when any teenager gets into a vehicle of any kind they get some type of thrilled or that the driving laws do not accommodate them in any way, shape, or form. They would go drag race ...

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Teenage Driving

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article Crash Facts on the 16- to 19- Year-Old Age Group, written by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, it is stated that 11.1 percent of sixteen year old drivers are involved in car accidents. Sixteen year olds are less experienced and are accident prone 2.43 percent more than eighteen year olds. According to Ted Gregory, a Chicago Tribune reporter, in New Jersey, teenagers start driving at the age of seventeen unlike other states with a driving age of sixteen. After the law was enacted, the percentage in fatal accidents dropped 33 percent. This report proves that as teenagers get older, car accidents are less likely to happen. Many would argue that age is just a number and eighteen year olds cause many car accidents as well. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation reported that in comparison to sixteen year olds, eighteen year olds are less likely to be involved in car accidents, with a rate of 8.67 percent. Sixteen year old drivers who are involved in car accidents are more likely than older drivers to cause accidents due to carelessness on the

    Read More

  • Should the Driving Age be Raised to 21?

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    Works Cited Gerdes, Louise I. -. The Driving Age Should Not Be Increased. Teen Driving. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2008. 83-85.

    Read More

More about The Dangers of Road Life

Open Document