This increasing trend of elderly road users is not only specific to Korea itself but also to other developed and developing countries as well, and several studies have investigated the risk of collisions by the elderly by distinguishing subgroups among the elderly with a cut-off age of 75. Li et al. investigated elderly collision risk and showed that frailty is the overriding factor for increased older driver deaths per mile, while excessive crash involvement, which affects other road users, played a lesser role and becomes apparent by age 75. In another traffic safety study, although older drivers have been defined as persons aged 65 years and older, the traffic accident data-based results presented here show that 65- to 74-year-old drivers are relatively safe compared to drivers in their 20s and even compare well to drivers in their 30s. They suggested that older drivers with elevated crash risk levels should be defined as 75 years old and older. Braver and Trempel concluded that when drivers reach the age of 75, there is an upturn in fatality risk, and two thirds of the deaths in crashes involving drivers aged 75 and older were of the drivers themselves, and Rita et al. applied the same cut-off value by grouping the elderly into younger-olds and older-olds in their study.
This study had two research objectives related to the elderly occupants of motor vehicles. First, the confounding effects of seat position and seatbelt use on elderly occupants were analyzed with eight-year road crash data in Seoul, South Korea, between 2008 and 2015. Second, the elderly group was further divided in two age groups, a younger-old group aged between 65 and 74 years and an older-old group aged 75 years and older to assess whether the growing elderly population and changing physical and mental capabilities of the elderly population may necessitate reconsiderations of relevant traffic safety policies. In this study, two injury levels were defined, severe (fatal and major injuries) and non-severe (minor injuries), and three seat positions (driver, front passenger, and rear seat) were considered with an emphasis on older drivers, who are becoming increasingly common. A Multinomial logit model was adopted to compare multiple age groups using odds ratios.
This study helps to raise public awareness about the importance of seatbelt use by elderly road users. Moreover, the accompanying relevant traffic safety regulations could reduce exposure to collision risk by the growing elderly population. In addition, increasing public awareness about the fact that the choice of seat position affects the injury severity outcome could contribute to reducing injury severity levels in collisions involving the elderly. Overall, the results of this study strongly suggest that elderly road users should acquire a better understanding of their risks if involved in a collision and that the almost universal cutoff of 65 years when grouping the elderly requires reconsideration. Immediate attention is needed from both traffic safety agencies and the public, especially in rapidly aging countries such as South Korea.