Many motorists here in Sacramento complain about the dangers associated with sharing the road with teen drivers. These car operators often worry that young motorists have too little knowledge about the rules of the road and lack the maturity to make the right judgment calls. It may be wise for these motorists to focus less on teen drivers and a little more on elderly ones instead.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data shows that older drivers are more apt to find themselves involved in a car crash than their younger counterparts. The federal agency’s data shows that as many as 500 seniors become involved in car crashes each day. Safety analysts believe that this has a lot to do with elderly individuals’ poor driving habits and abilities.
There are certain dangerous driving behaviors that older motorists engage in that have the potential to cause serious crashes.
Elderly motorists tend to become easily confused. This often leads them to lose track of where they are. Senior drivers may attempt to suddenly change their lane, brake and back up in traffic or make a quick turn to get to where they originally intended to go. You may end up involved in a crash if you’re not on the lookout for these types of unexpected and reckless driving behaviors.
Another common reason that elderly motorists become involved in crashes is because they fail to stop at traffic lights. Senior drivers also commonly miss stop signs and pedestrians in their path. Older individuals often experience delayed response times. Crashes at intersections can be catastrophic. Incidents that involve a pedestrian being struck seldom turn out very well either.
Older motorists are dangerous in that they tend to straddle two lanes or to drift in and out of one. Seniors sometimes drive eerily close to parked cars. These driving patterns make for a dangerous situation on California roads.
While some seniors voluntarily give up their driver’s licenses because they realize that their driving skills are no longer as sharp as they previously were, this doesn’t happen often enough. Some seniors don’t have their licenses taken away from them until after they’ve caused a crash that has seriously hurt someone.
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