When addressing high accident rates per chance of exposure to road traffic (per vehicle kilometer traveled, etc.) for elderly drivers as pointed out in many studies (Fig. 8), the effect of the presence of passengers on the prevention of traffic accidents can be one approach to traffic safety measures for elders. Even for drivers over 75 years old, as shown in Fig. 4, the relative accident rate when driving with one passenger is lower than that of the age group 55-64 or 65-74 without any passengers. Similarly, the rate for drivers 65-74 years old with one passenger drops even lower than that for young drivers with no one else in the car. In other words, the accident rate per chance of exposure to road traffic for elderly drivers can be reduced by the presence of passengers to the level of young drivers driving alone.
The present analysis can be summarized as follows:
1. The presence of passengers reduces the probability of becoming a primary party in an accident by more than half (Fig. 4).
2. The preventive effect of the presence of passengers is greater for male drivers than for females (Fig. 5).
3. The effect of the presence of passengers is most significant in preventing collisions with bicycles and least significant with stationary objects (Fig. 7).
4. Despite a large difference in the relative accident rate between age groups (Fig. 3), the preventive effect of the presence of passengers (relative accident rate ratio) remains almost the same regardless of the age of the driver (Fig. 5).
5. Two possible reasons for such preventive effect are support from passengers for the driver in terms of recognition and careful driving out of consideration for passengers.
From this, it can reasonably be said that sharing a ride to the same destination is highly effective for not only saving energy and reducing traffic congestion but also ensuring safety.
While collision avoidance systems are being developed through such technologies as automatic detection of road environment or driver's physical/mental condition, the preventive effect of the presence of passengers can also play a major role as discussed in the present analysis. Further studies on the mechanism of this effect are expected to improve safety against collisions.
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