Age Appears to be a Significant Factor in Storefront Crashes

Senior drivers are conspicuously well represented in our weekly roundups here of storefront crashes. Drivers at the older, and at the very young, end of the age spectrum seem to account for the largest number of these accidents.

Robert Wang, staff writer for CantonRep.com in Ohio, wrote this excellent piece published about a month ago: 'When are you too old to drive?' While it focuses on Ohio drivers, it's a good primer on the topic of senior driving issues and offers tips for seniors and their families.

Age, of course, isn't the only factor. I'll soon have stats together for crashes reported here over the past several months, which will reveal some interesting trends. For example, certain states have noticeably more storefront crashes than others.

Pointing the finger at any particular group of drivers isn't a solution to the problem, of course. (Personally, I suspect that no matter what steps are taken to address driver behavior, accidents will continue to happen. Which leads me to ask what businesses, and the folks who design and build stores and other commercial buildings, can do to protect customers, employees and pedestrians—a topic for another day.)

Looking into who's involved in storefront crashes, and grasping the most common circumstances of these incidents, will hopefully at least provide some useful clues for safety experts to use in developing prevention strategies.