If you're in your 20s (or 30s, 40s, 50s...), the 85-year-old lady barely peeking over her dashboard and reaching up to the steering wheel of her Lincoln Continental might be a safer driver than you are, if you take driving statistics at face value, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
You may laugh at her "Over the Hill" bumper sticker, the fur-like padding on her seats, or her goggle-like sunglasses, but as the statistically better driver, she gets the last laugh.
Or does she?
The Sentinel reports that in 2009, the crash rate for 65-year-old
Florida licensed drivers was 106.75 per 10,000, and the crash rate
decreased from there with age -- 98.27 for 75-year-olds and 88.85 for
85-year-olds. Twenty-year-old drivers, on the other side of the crash-rate spectrum, racked up 348.58 crashes per 10,000 licensed drivers.
Finding
it odd, or oddly humbling, we are a little skeptical of these numbers.
We've cooked up two theories that would render these numbers
significantly misleading.
Theory #1 in defense of millennial generation driving skills:
Elderly
people often keep their licenses even though they do not drive. To many, giving
up a license feels like surrendering -- just ask
their children who have to take away their cars or convince them to call
for a ride or take the bus. Families often beat the
state to revoking the licenses of their elderly loved ones. Yet, older
people must keep a valid ID to travel, etc., so they may keep renewing
their licenses without ever stepping on the gas pedal.
Theory #2:
Perhaps
young people rear-end frustratingly slow drivers (re: elderly) so often
that the statistics are skewed by the minor accidents that occur when
these generational subsets collide.
But of course, as we said, these are
merely theories. And after all, the olds have been driving their entire
life (experience>skill?), and while we cherish their advice on
life and romance, maybe it's time we also look to Gramps for some help
with our lead feet. Or maybe not?
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