Dangerous Swerves Behind

A formative, family-friendly factoid from a survey or study in the news.

Popular wisdom has it that elderly folks are far riskier behind the wheel than middle-aged drivers, and every bit as dangerous as a teenager with Daddy’s keys. Once again, popular wisdom is unwise. A new study by the nonprofit Rand Corp. finds that drivers 65 and older are only about 16% more likely to get into an accident than those between 25 and 64. Meanwhile, motorists in the 16-to-24 bracket are 188% more likely to cause a crash than anyone who has movead beyond that stage of life. HealthDay News reported this summer that the new study “casts doubt on policies that mandate stricter licensing requirements for seniors.” And it surely puts a whole new spin on the proverbial tires of Proverbs 22:6 — “Train a boy in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not swerve from it.”