Senior citizens more often at fault for car accidents with personal injury

Older drivers are less likely than younger drivers to be involved in an accident resulting in personal injury. But when they are, they are more often the main cause. In 2022, people aged 65 or over were responsible for more than two thirds of accidents (68.7%), according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Among those aged 75 or over, a good three out of four of those involved were even assigned the main blame for the accident (76.6%) - by far the highest figure of all age groups.

By comparison, 55.2 percent of drivers under the age of 65 were the main cause of accidents. In this age group, young drivers in particular cause a disproportionately high number of accidents: if young adults aged 18 to 20 were behind the wheel of a car, they were primarily responsible for the accident in 70.8 percent of cases.

The causes of car accidents also differ between older people and younger age groups. For example, senior citizens were accused of disregarding the right of way proportionately more often than those under 65. Misconduct when turning, reversing, reversing into and starting a car also occurred more frequently than among younger people. In contrast, older people were much less likely to be accused of not keeping their distance, driving at an inappropriate speed or driving under the influence of alcohol.

However, older people are also less likely to be involved in road accidents than younger people. In 2022, 77,700 people aged 65 and over were involved in accidents with personal injury, which was 15.1 percent compared to 22.1 percent of the population in Germany under the age of 65. This is probably due in particular to the fact that older people are less likely to be involved in road traffic than younger people, partly because they no longer drive to work. According to the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport, the distance traveled also decreases significantly from the age of 60. (aum)