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What's the Deadliest State for Elderly Drivers? You're in It
By Jay Hamburg, Orlando Sentinel
July 11, 2008
Florida led the nation in traffic fatalities among people 65 or older.
That's according to a report released Thursday by the AAA Foundation, which used the statistics to warn of the coming "challenges presented by an aging population of motorists."
Florida recorded 269 deaths in 2006 among drivers and passengers 65 or older. The state averaged 287 deaths among that age group from 2002 to 2006.
California had the second-highest number, with 242 deaths in 2006 and an average of 254 during the five-year period.
The states with the next highest number of senior traffic fatalities in 2006:
*Texas, with 217.
*Georgia, with 166.
*North Carolina, with 161.
California had the largest senior population (3.9 million) in the nation, followed by Florida (3 million), the report said.
In other words, one in about 16,000 of California's seniors died in an auto accident in 2006. In Florida, the rate was higher: 1 in about 11,000.
About 15 percent of licensed drivers in the United States are 65 or older.
By 2025, the number is expected to increase to 25 percent, according to the foundation.
The group is calling for states to come up with consistent and comprehensive standards for judging whether drivers -- of any age -- are fit to get behind the wheel.
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