Abstract
ObjectiveThis study aimed to show the epidemiological characteristics and the difference in the risk factors and types of collision between older and younger drivers in Korea.MethodsWe collected data from the Emergency Department-based Injury In-depth Surveillance retrieved by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2011 to 2015. We included injured drivers aged ≥ 18 years who were registered in the database, who were limited to drivers of four-wheeled vehicles. The enrolled patients were divided according to age into older (≥ 65 years) and younger (< 65 years) drivers. The total number of enrolled drivers was 37,511; 2,361 (6.3%) of them were older drivers. The epidemiological characteristics (e.g., age, sex, fatality rate) of traffic collision victims for 5 years were determined, and the risk factors (e.g., seat belt use) and types of collision (single- vs. multi-vehicle) between the two groups were compared.ResultsThe median age and interquartile range (IQR; 25th and 75th percentiles) of all drivers were 41.0 (IQR, 32.0–52.0), and 24,544 (65.4%) of them were men. The median age increased from 40.0 (IQR, 31.0–50.0) to 43.0 (IQR, 33.0–54.0) between 2010 and 2015 (P < 0.001). The proportion of older drivers increased from 5.0% to 8.4% annually during the study period (P < 0.001). Between 2010 and 2015, the fatality rate decreased from 3.1% to 1.2% (P = 0.287) for older drivers and from 0.9% to 0.5% (P = 0.009) for younger drivers. The proportion of single-vehicle collision (25.9% vs. 20.3%) was higher in older than in younger drivers (P < 0.001). Older drivers had a lower rate of seat-belt use than younger drivers (79.0% vs. 83.0%, P < 0.001).ConclusionsThe proportion of older drivers increased annually during the study period, and older drivers experienced more single-vehicle collision and used seat belt less frequently than younger drivers. A national policy support to reduce traffic collision in older drivers and public relation activities to enhance their seat belt use should be strengthened in the future.
Highlights
South Korea has a rapidly aging population
A national policy support to reduce traffic collision in older drivers and public relation activities to enhance their seat belt use should be strengthened in the future
If older drivers suffer from chronic medical conditions, they are more likely to be involved in at-fault traffic collisions, indicating that the chronic condition itself could be a risk factor for traffic collisions [11]
Summary
South Korea has a rapidly aging population. In 2015, 13.2% of South Korea’s population was determined to be 65 years of age [1]. A variety of conceptual models for injury prevention have been proposed, among which the Haddon matrix is a representative tool that enables analysis of multiple factors associated with traffic collisions, and consists of the risk factors for human, vehicles, and environment at each phase (before, during, and after the crash) [5,6,7]. Among these factors, human-related factors include vehicle speed, driving skill of the driver, physical disability at pre-crash phase, wearing a seat belt or equipped with an airbag during the crash phase, and health status of the victim, first-aid skill, access to medic after the crash phase. To improve the limitations of the current traffic collision reports, the authors proposed introduction of a system (e.g., use of mobile application) to enable completion of accident report form at the scene
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