Young drivers are convinced that older drivers are a public menace. They no longer have the reflexes of their youth, their eyesight is impaired and they easily lose their temper. But what is the reality? Are older drivers the most dangerous?
Every year, thousands of people lose their lives or are seriously injured in accidents on EU roads. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of road deaths in Europe fell by 36%.
Sweden still has the safest roads (18 fatalities per 1 million inhabitants) while Romania has the highest (85 deaths per 1 million inhabitants). The EU average is 42 per million, compared with the world average of more than 180 per million.
According to data from the Traffic Police Directorate, in 2021, young drivers caused 9,509 accidents with fatalities, while others caused 8,659. At the same time, most accidents were caused by category B vehicles, but this is natural, given that 79% of the vehicle fleet registered in Romania are in this category. The statistics also show that drivers of vehicles in categories C/D who are aged 40-65 cause more accidents than those who drive the same category and are under 40.
No "amateurs" lead at the top
Although category B drivers ("amateur drivers") cause the most traffic accidents with fatalities (91%), they are not the most "dangerous" drivers on the road, according to the comparative analysis of at-fault involvement rates. (The rate is the ratio of the number of accidents caused by drivers of different categories of vehicles to the number of vehicles of the same category in current use in Romania).
Drivers of category A vehicles, double the rate of guilt
The most dangerous drivers on the road proved to be category A drivers, with an at-fault rate of 5.3% (even double that of most drivers), even though they caused (only) 4% of the total 18,168 fatalities in 2021. This means that at least 5 motorcyclists out of every 1,000 were involved in accidents. In the hierarchy, this is followed by car drivers in categories C (3.7%), D (2.8%), B (2.5%) and Tr/Tv/Tb (1.3%).
"Professionals" in the spotlight
In other respects, of all categories of drivers who drive vehicles with at least 4 wheels, the most dangerous are drivers of heavy goods vehicles - trucks/vans (3.7% categories C) and buses/microbuses (2.8% categories D). "Based on the findings, it appears to be sustainable to recognize that: facilitating and/or optimizing the effectiveness of activities related to improving road safety in Romania requires the implementation of measures to adapt/update pragmatically the conditions of access and maintenance in the job specific to the exercise of occupations with responsibilities in the field of road safety", Gabor Sandor believes.
The profile of the most dangerous driver on the road has the following characteristics: he/she holds a vocational training certificate and is aged between 55-65.
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