Madrid
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The age of drivers is a factor that is continually questioned when analyzing road accidents. A debate that is back in the news following the accident recorded last Sunday in Valencia, initially caused by an 87-year-old driver on the A-7 road as it passed through the municipality of Rotglà i Corberà (Valencia), in which Five people died and four others were injured.
The
Directorate General of Traffic DGT studies reducing the periods of validity of the driving license of the elderly, as recently confirmed by the Deputy Director of Road Education and Training of the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), María José Aparicio.
30% of those killed in traffic accidents in the European Union are over 65 years of age.
A figure that is repeated in all countries and that reaches 50% when we talk regarding deceased pedestrians or cyclists.
In Spain in 2019, 28% of those killed in traffic accidents were over 65 years old. These figures are going to worsen, if we do nothing, due to the aging of the population“, warned the deputy director of the DGT.
Currently, the driving license (class B) is renewed every 10 years until the age of 65, at which point it begins to expire every 5 years. Before 2009, the validity was 10 years up to 45 years. Afterwards, the renewal was every five years until the age of 70 and, from then on, every two years.
The Director General of Traffic, Pere Navarro, in his recent appearance before the Commission on Road Safety of Congress, announced that the deadlines and psychophysical tests in the renewal of the driving license of the elderly will be reviewed. According to data from the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), more than four million people over the age of 65 maintain their driving license, which represents more than 15% of the driver census.
In relation with the loss of psychophysical aptitudes and With the review of the validity of the permits, the Deputy Director of Traffic has clarified that DGT wants to review not only the periods of validity of the permits of the elderly but all the periods of validity.
“We know that in the case of people of a certain age we will have to reduce them,” said María José Aparicio, who has defended that we must “protect older people, but always promoting their mobility, safety and freedom.”
The ages at which most accidents occur
According to the recent study carried out by the AXA Center for Road Safety Studies, drivers between the ages of 66 and 70, most of whom are already retired, have an accident frequency that is 17% lower than the average. Figures that are further reduced among drivers between 71 and 75 years of age and among those over 75 years of age, the two groups with the least probability of having an accident, with frequencies 23% and 26% lower than the average, respectively.
In addition to his great driving experience, there are other factors that reduce his risk, such as less use of the car and its use generally at times with less traffic.
A) Yes, drivers between the ages of 18 and 21 they are the group where the age variable affects the most, with a 57% greater probability of having an accident, presumably due to their inexperience at the wheel. They are followed by those over 75 years of age, with a risk greater than 29%, in this case probably as a result of decreased reflexes. The other two groups with a considerable incidence of age in a greater probability of suffering a traffic accident are young people between 22 and 25 years old, with 19% more, and drivers between 71 and 75 years old, with 9%. %.
From the age of 66, guilt is slightly higher, although only by a few tenths. Between the ages of 71 and 75, the percentage of responsibility worsens to 53.7% and in drivers over 75 years of age it reaches 60.6%, 26% more than the average. Therefore, the report shows how, on the one hand, drivers over 70 years of age are the ones who have the fewest accidents but, on the other hand, when they do, they are responsible for most of them.
For Josep Alfonso, general director of the
AXA Study Center, the report reveals that “driving experience is probably the most determining factor in avoiding a traffic accident. Skill behind the wheel directly affects the traffic accidents that we manage to avoid, whether we were guilty or innocent in them.