Old Drivers Aren't the Problem

... or at least so says a new study from the RAND Institute for Civil Justice :

“While driving ability declines with age for most people, those seniors who continue to drive appear to be safer drivers than the general public might think,” said David Loughran, a RAND senior economist and professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School who is the lead author of the study. “By far, it is the youngest drivers who pose the greatest risk to traffic safety.”

Maybe, but saying that older drivers are safer than teenagers is like saying they're safer than drunk drivers. Of course they are. Who isn't?

The press release says, "Drivers 65 and older are ... not much more likely than drivers 26 to 64 to cause accidents," but elsewhere the report notes that "older drivers are slightly (16 percent) likelier than drivers aged 25 to 64 to cause an accident."

Whether a 16 percent greater likelihood of a crash constitutes "slightly" increasing the risk by "not much" is, I suppose, a matter of interpretation. Still, this spin can't help but make the conspiracy theorist in me wonder if the RICJ isn't in cahoots with the AARP ...