Section 6 In what situations do elderly automobile drivers tend to encounter accidents?
  Next, we examine accidents where the collision object is an automobile. Results for other vehicles are also included for reference.

  1) Features of accident time periods
Accident time periods are broken up as follows: Early morning (04:00-07:00), morning (07:00-12:00), afternoon (12:00-16:00), evening (16:00-19:00), night (19:00-24:00), and late night (24:00-04:00).
  * From the results of Fig. 17, the older a person is, the greater the component ratio of accidents in the morning and afternoon. The reverse is seen for the night, late night, and early morning periods. This is, of course, a reflection of the increase or decrease in driving opportunities for each age group.

  2) Features of road layout
From the results of Fig. 18, the higher the age group, the higher the component ratio of accidents at medium-scale intersections. This probably reflects the scale of everyday life for each age group.

Fig. 17 Component ratio of time period

Fig. 18 Component ratio of road layout
  3) Features of accident types
  * From the results of Fig. 19, the percentage of crossing collisions is high among the elderly. We believe that this is because the weaknesses of elderly drivers are emphasized in complicated accidents such as a crossing collision with the increase in driving opportunities on community roads. Also, the component ratio in right-angle collisions rose slightly.

  [Reference: Collision against a moped]
  * From the results of Fig. 20, crossing collisions and passing/overtaking collisions is higher among elderly drivers. This may be because elderly drivers tend to drive on narrower roads or their sense of vehicle width may have weakened.

  [Reference: Collision against a bicycle]
  * From the results of Fig. 21, the component ratio of left-turn accidents is higher among elderly drivers. Apparently, elderly drivers frequently fail to notice bicycles when making a left turn. Twisting the upper torso to check the rear may have become painful for these drivers, contributing to this increase.

  4) Features of transit objectives
  * From the results in Fig. 22, elderly drivers tend not to drive for work-related business or school; they drive more often for the purpose of shopping, visiting, or hospital appointments

Fig. 19 Component ratio of accident type

Fig. 20 Component ratio of accident type on mopeds

Fig. 21 Component ratio of accident type on bicycles

Fig. 22 Component ratio of transit objective
  5) Features of violations of law

  We accumulated data concerning law violations, which is not limited to just the collided party. Component ratios within each age group of less than 2% are placed within the "Violation/other" category.

  In Fig. 23, the percentage of law violators in elderly drivers is high. What stood out in comparison to the other age groups are "violation of temporary stop", "signal disregard", "obstruction of right of way", safety violation; failure to check front, right, left". While the component ratios of "safety violation; inappropriate break operation", "safety violation; inattention to front" are also high, since they are similarly high in younger drivers, these characteristics cannot be considered unique to elderly drivers.

Fig. 23 Component ratio of law violations in collisions against any party

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Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA)