Every day, people die on the roads in traffic accidents. Whether you are driving a car, riding as a passenger, in a truck or on a motorcycle; the dangers are all around you. Car accidents happen because negligent and irresponsible drivers who are texting while driving, drunk behind the wheel , or are otherwise careless; and victims often times have to pay with their lives for these drivers mistakes. What many people don't realize is the fact that older adult drivers in America are another common cause for car accidents, as well. According to reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2009 there were about 33 million people over the age of 65 who were licensed to drive a motor vehicle. Yet, these same studies show that every day this age bracket of elderly drivers, there are 500 injuries and 15 fatalities due to crashes daily in America.

Often times, elderly driver crashes they are the ones who are most severely injured in the accident because of their body's age and inability to fight off injuries like a younger person. The CDC does report that the fatality rate is more due to this reason than it is due to their tendencies to be involved in traffic accidents. A common cause of accidents caused by elderly drivers is largely due to their age and their ability to operate a vehicle diminishing. For a driver to have complete control behind the wheel, it requires three essential factors: cognitive, manual and visual control. Sadly, when one or all of these are neglected, the driver loses their ability to be a safe vehicle sharing the road with other cars or even pedestrians.

When an elderly person is not cognitively focused on the road, they are going to be unable to respond to sudden changes on the road like a pothole or to slow down when a person changes lanes in front of them. An elderly person is more susceptible to being unaware of their surroundings because of their age or unable to have a fast response time. Their visual ability to control their car may be impaired due to their diminishing eye sight. Even with glasses, elders may need to squint to see the road, causing them to focus on the act of being able to see rather than focusing on the road around them. Their manual control of the car may also be affected by their age as simply as not being able to hold on to the steering wheel well because of their joints and bone problems, etc.

In order for elderly drivers to be safe on the road, make sure they need to be regularly seeing their doctor for eye exams and updating their prescriptions often so that they have strong clarity on the road. Also, they need to see their physicians for checkups regarding their medications to make sure they are not having drowsy or other dangerous affects not here bodies that might impair their driving ability. Encourage those who are older to map out their routes ahead of time so that they are not distracted even with a GPS device when on the road. Also, it will be helpful for them to altogether avoid dangerous road conditions including weather and night time driving.

In the event that you have been involved in a car accident caused by an elderly driver, or anyone else for that matter, please contact a car accident attorney in your area to help you pursue your claim and seek the compensation you need to pay for your expenses from the accident.