Are Seniors Or Teens The Safer Drivers?

You are at the birthday party of your uncle. Everybody is there including your parents and your kids, their cousins and uncles. The octogenarian celebrating his birthday is all thrilled to see the full extended family assembled to celebrate his birthday. Everyone is having a nice time chatting with each other, catching up with their relatives and generally having fun. Suddenly your cousin, the son of the birthday boy – if we can call him that – realizes that there are no candles with the cake.

A nephew of yours who has just got is license is ready to dash off to buy the candles. So is your elder cousin of 72. Your car is what they both want. Now you are in a dilemma. Who will you hand over the car to? Who do you think will it be safer to give the car to drive? That is the question uppermost in your mind before you hand over the car keys.

This is not a question that is asked by a few. It has been asked and researched by many to find out who is safer – the teen or the senior – to be on the road with a car? Before we decide on these two, let us just see how these both age groups drive. This research is done with the knowledge that middle-agers are safer than both these groups.

Most studies have proven that teens are more dangerous drivers than any other age group. Teen drivers caused 9 times more accidents than the middle-age group. A study was conducted to find out why they were more prone to accidents.

The fact is that the Graduated Driver Licensing system which was implemented by many states have reduced the number of accidents considerably. Still, this group remains on top of the list. Road accidents remain on top of the list of reasons for death in teens.

There are many reasons attributed to this. The main reason being speeding. Teens find it necessary to speed on the roads. They are often seen compelled to go ahead of other, especially elder drivers. Another reason is the inexperience. They don’t understand the real dangers that could happen if they are involved in an accident.

Poor judgment because of inexperience is another reason. They don’t judge the distance between the vehicles properly. Usage of seat-belts is also very limited in teenagers. They don’t seem to understand the benefits, or they just don’t care about it. Drunken driving is also seen a lot among teens. A general trend to disregard the law is also seen in teens.

When we say the best car for teens it depends on whose viewpoint we are talking about. As we are discussing safety aspects we will be looking at this from the viewpoint of the parent. While the youngster will want a car with the best speeding abilities, the parents will be looking at the safety aspects.

Even the parents face a dilemma when it comes to picking a car for their teen. There is always a temptation to go for a cheaper used car. But if safety must be the primary consideration it is better to go for a new vehicle. These vehicles have much better safety features. Buying large cars is not wise too when it comes to the teens. A large group is more likely to cause more distraction to the driver.

The best choices are the new cars which have advanced safety features. They have features like forward collision alert, lane departure alert, and rear cross-traffic alert. In addition, these vehicles also come with automatic braking. Certain cars even have more advanced features like allowing the parents to set a speed limit and audio volume limit when the teen is driving the car. There are also cars which have software that will provide an update on the teen’s driving behavior to the parent.

Any car that is meant for a teenager should be fitted with the most modern safety features. It should also be a smaller car that won’t let too many people ride with the teen. While on the issue of youngsters it is also better to find some cheap car insurance for 20 year olds.

For the elderly being able to drive gives them a feeling of independence. Though they are careful, statistics show that they have a 5.5 times bigger chance of causing an accident than the middle-agers. This is mainly attributed to the age-old issues that are common.

Hearing and vision are normally the senses that get affected as people get older. This is one contributor to accidents involving elders. They also suffer from slower reflexes. That makes them slower to respond to emergency situations needing a sudden braking or avoiding a collision. But elders are much more aware of their limitations and hence take better care while driving. They also drive much lesser miles than any other group of drivers.

Safety factors for elders include the right seating height and the right height for getting in and out of the cars. These cars should also have knobs and buttons that can be easily handled and gauges that are easy to read. Visibility is another important factor. The car should allow the elders to see better out of all sides, whether the driver is tall or short. The headlights also should be more powerful as elders lose a certain amount of their vision.

Many of the newer vehicles come with features that aid the elders. Most cars have cameras that aid in reversing. Many vehicles also come with side mirrors that automatically rotate downwards when the car is in reverse gear. These features help in reversing without hitting anywhere.

Many cars have features like lane departure alert. Forward collision prevention is also common nowadays. Some cars have automatic brake locks so that even if the driver accidentally lifts his foot from brake when stopped at traffic, the vehicle won’t rear-end the car in front. Another important thing is that bigger is better when it comes to elders. Bigger cars protect the driver better than the smaller ones.