Give Me Your Age, And I'll Tell You How You Drive.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) does a great job collecting and analyzing Wisconsin motor vehicle accident statistics. The latest 2009 Wisconsin Traffic Crash Facts report shows how fatal and total crash rates evolve by age and age group.

Not surprisingly, in Wisconsin as in the country at large, driving careers start poorly. A very high proportion of licensed teenage drivers get involved in a crash, namely:

• 12.9 percent of licensed drivers aged 16;
• 10.3 percent of licensed drivers aged 17 and
• 10.0 percent of drivers aged 18.

After the age of 19, the rate of involvement in crashes starts dropping from 8.5 percent for drivers aged 19 to 5.8 percent of drivers aged 24.

The number of drivers in crashes compared to the number of licensed drivers by age group continues to go down, from 4.7 percent for the 25-34 age group to 2.2 percent for the 65-74 age group.

The above figures reflect the probability of getting involved in a crash, whether the crash results in death, injuries only or property damage only. Interestingly, in the older age groups (75 years and more), even if the rate of involvement in all crashes goes down, involvement in fatal crashes goes back up with age.

How should we correctly read these figures?

As for all statistics, hasty conclusions can be wrong, or missing other elements that influence the figures. In this case, it is not just the number of people in crashes compared to the number of licensed drivers per age group. What determines the probability of getting involved in a car, truck or motorcycle crash is also the frequency of driving, or the mileage traveled per age group.

It is obvious that people aged between 35 and 50 will be driving far more than teenage drivers or older people. One can draw two conclusions from this:

•1. Teenage driver crash rates are even worse than the statistics show: this is because teenagers do not drive nearly as much as mature drivers.

•2. The crash rate of older drivers is only lower because older drivers drive much less.

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Hupy & Abraham, S.C. has offices in Milwaukee, Madison, Appleton in Wisconsin, and Gurnee and Bloomington in Illinois. If you or someone you love has been hurt in a car, truck or motorcycle accident, contact Hupy & Abraham at 800-800-5676 (toll-free) or 414-223-4800 (local) today for a free evaluation of your case, or send us an e-mail with your questions.