Here’s some news Atlanta car accident attorneys don’t hear every day. A study has found that children who are involved in a car accident when one of their grandparents is driving a car, have a much lowered risk of suffering injuries than when they are involved in an auto accident in a car being driven by their parents.
The study was based on data from insurance claims across fifteen states from 2003 to 2007. In all, more than 12,000 children were included in the study. The children were below the age of fifteen. Researchers found, to their surprise, that children who were involved in an auto accident when the car was being driven by a grandparent were at a 50% lower risk of suffering injuries than those who were in cars being driven by their parents.
These grandparents were all above the age of sixty-five, with an average age of 58. The study found that only about 10% of the children in the study who were being driven by the grandparents, were involved in car accidents. However, the injuries suffered by these children constituted less than 10% of the total. Children, who were riding in a car with their parents accounted for approximately 1.05% of the children were injured, while children riding with their grandparents accounted for just .70% of the children who were injured.
Those are surprising findings, considering that senior motorists above the age of sixty-five have typically been considered to be some of the most at-risk motorists. Elderly drivers may be seen as being much safer than teen drivers, but they suffer from several medical and health challenges as they age, that affect their ability to drive safely.
For instance, a senior motorist may suffer from failing vision and hearing loss as he gets older, and this may affect his ability to hear honking cars, and see vital visual cues ahead of him. Additionally, a senior motorist may also suffer from slowing physical reflexes, which can prove crucial when he has to make emergency driving decisions.
Additionally, a senior driver is likely to be on one or more medications because of medical conditions. In fact, it’s not unnatural for a senior motorist to be taking an entire program of medications for a variety of illnesses. These medications can have side effects that impact a person’s ability to drive safely. These medications can also interact with each other, causing blurred vision, slurred speech, disorientation, confusion and a whole range of other side effects that can substantially affect a person’s ability to drive safely.
Considering that senior drivers suffer from so many challenges that affect their ability to be safe motorists, what can explain this drop in injuries when children are involved in accidents with grandparents? The explanation for this may actually be quite simple. Grandparents are likely to be extra cautious when they’re driving with grandchildren. When you have precious cargo like your grandchildren in your car, you’re much more likely to drive at safe speeds, and look out especially carefully for accident risks.