Texas ranked second in the U. S. in the number of elder motorists who were killed in motor vehicle collisions, with 397 people unfortunately dying as a result of car crashes in 2010.
As a Fort Worth injury lawyer, I have represented many older drivers over the past 31 years who were hit by careless young drivers (and vice versa), and it is impossible to generalize about the driving habits of any age group. For example, I just concluded a case where a 21 year old woman was crashed into by a 71 year old woman. But I have just been hired in a case where a 16 year old young man was speeding and collided into my 40 year client.
We have the second most number of people in the country and the report notes that Texas was four percent below the national average, so our senior citizens are a little better drivers than most older ones.
And if you can believe this, Texas has 483,000 licensed drivers who are not just older than 65, but who are older than 79. In case you were wondering, yes, the state requires any one who is 79 or older to take a new vision test and to renew his license.
The report also recommended that roads and vehicles be improved to help out our aging population. And older drivers were encouraged to take driving classes.
This is an important topic, especially since the number of people who will be 65 or older will grow by 60% by 2025. I never thought this would happen to me, but I will hit 65 in 2019.