Understanding fatal older road user crash circumstances and risk factors

ABSTRACTObjective: This study used medicolegal data to investigate fatal older road user (ORU) crash circumstances and risk factors relating to four key components of the Safe System approach (e.g., roads and roadsides, vehicles, road users, and speeds) to identify areas of priority for targeted prevention activity.Methods: The Coroners Court of Victoria's Surveillance Database was searched to identify coronial records with at least one deceased ORU in the state of Victoria, Australia, for 2013–2014. Information relating to the ORU, crash characteristics and circumstances, and risk factors was extracted and analyzed.Results: The average rate of fatal ORU crashes per 100,000 population was 8.1 (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.0–10.2), which was more than double the average rate of fatal middle-aged road user crashes (3.6, 95% CI 2.5–4.6). There was a significant relationship between age group and deceased road user type (χ2(15, N = 226) = 3.56, p < 0.001). The proportion of deceased drivers decreased with a...