geriatrics
Overview of the Older Driver
Statistics
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, there were about 30,000,000 licensed drivers age 70 and over in the US in 2019 ( References ). Older adults are maintaining their driver's license longer; the proportion of people age 70 and older with licenses increased from 73% in 1997 to 83% in 2019. Older drivers also on average are driving more miles per year, although still fewer miles than middle-aged drivers. In 2019, 5195 people age 70 and older died in MVCs on US roads, representing a 12% decrease from 1997. However, older adults are increasingly involved in fatal MVCs on a percentage basis, compared to other age groups given an increase in the size of the aging cohort in the population. 