The Role of Driver Age and Gender in Motor Vehicle Fatal Crashes

Abstract

This study compares the age and gender of at-fault drivers who were involved in fatal crashes and the corresponding driving errors that contributed to these crashes. This comparison provides insights that may help traffic engineers devise countermeasures to lessen the number of these unnecessary deaths. Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for the years 2001 through 2003 were used in this study. The analysis included passenger vehicles (automobiles, utility vehicles, minivans, and pickup trucks) involved in either single- or two-vehicle crashes. The driver responsible in each crash was identified through the driver error variable codes as listed in the FARS databases. Younger drivers (16 through 19 years of age) and the elderly (those 75 and older) were responsible for a disproportionate amount of fatality-related crashes. When combined these two groups accounted for only 6.4% of the total miles driven in 2001, but they were responsible for 83.1% of the fatal crashes attributed to driver-related errors. Driver operating error was listed as the contributing factor in 73% of fatal motor vehicle crashes when the driver was male and 83% of the crashes when the driver was female. The youngest drivers tended to be carrying the highest number of passengers when they were involved in fatal crashes. Failing to stay in the proper lane and driving too fast for road conditions were the two most frequent driver operating errors contributing to fatal crashes for male and female drivers.

Keywords:

• fatal crash
• driver
• age
• gender
• driver involvement ratio
• vehicle

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Heather Contrino, Adella Santos, Susan Liss and Yuki Nakamoto of the FHWA's National Household Travel Survey for their support and help on how to extract the data regarding travel miles driven by age and gender. Also, our thanks go to Stephen Owusu-Ansah, a graduate student in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Dayton for helping in deducing crash data in Access database software.

Notes

^a1 = Physical/mental conditions, 2 = Driver errors, 3 = External factors, 4 = Other miscellaneous factors, 5 = Possible distraction (inside vehicle).