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Older Driver Safety

Older drivers face unique safety concerns including vision, reflexes, and physical fitness. We have materials to help guide the discussion with older drivers, and children and caregivers of aging adults.

Many assets are available in English and Spanish. Share this information with partner organizations to help spread the message across all communities.

A reminder, Older Driver Safety Awareness Week is December 2-6, 2024 – a good opportunity to increase messaging. 

Facts

Older population facts, stats and reports from NHTSA's National Center for Statistics and Analysis

Get More Facts & Reports
  • From 2020 to 2021 there was a 15% increase in the number of people killed in traffic crashes involving older drivers, from 7,135 in 2020 to 8,209 in 2021.
  • From 2020 to 2021 there was a 14% increase in the number of people 65 and older killed in traffic crashes.
  • In 2021, 70% of traffic fatalities in crashes involving older drivers involved other vehicles. Additionally, more older drivers were killed in traffic crashes on rural roadways versus urban roadways (50% versus 49%).
  • Among the older population, the traffic fatality rate per 100,000 population in 2021 was highest for the 85-and-older age group. 

    For facts translated in Spanish, visit NHTSA.gov/Espanol.


 

Talking Points

We've prepared talking points related to older drivers. After downloading, we encourage you to add local stats and facts to the document. Some talking points are for an older driver audience and others are for families and caregivers.

Earned Media

We've produced a sample news release and drafted documents that can be used as a newsletter, article, column or part of other content.

Social Media

Sample social media posts are available for you to use on your various social media platforms, including Facebook, X and Instagram.

Image Library

older driver and younger adult passing keys

Images often help boost content engagement, especially on social media posts. We offer a variety of traffic safety images for free.

Videos

Overcome Concerns, Occupational Therapy
Keeping Independent For practitioners, professionals

Older Driver Safety Awareness Week

Older Driver Safety Awareness Week is December 2-6, 2024 and you'll see increased communication related to older drivers. You can use any of the material available on this page to increase your older driver messaging.

If using earned media material, you can customize the news release and newsletter to reference Older Driver Safety Awareness Week.

For Medical Professionals

Additional Resources