Older drivers in Hong Kong are not really more unsafe, just more in number these days
Numerous studies have shown that older workers are more careful, steady, responsible and loyal, and that these positive characteristics more than balance the slowing response time as we age, to which Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai refers.
In noting the increase in the absolute number of accidents involving older drivers between 2008 and 2017, it must be considered that in 2008 older public vehicle drivers were only 17 per cent of the total, compared with 41 per cent registered public vehicle drivers now over 60 and they accounted for only 30.5 per cent of drivers involved in accidents in 2017. The statistics should imply that older drivers have proportionately fewer accidents than younger drivers.
Describing people aged 60 as elderly is remarkably inappropriate today, for – compared with previous generations – lifespans are longer, and within them citizens are healthier.