LAUSR

BACKGROUND The percentage of drivers aged ≥65 years among all Korean taxi drivers has risen sharply from 3.2% in 2006 to 22.0% in 2016. OBJECTIVE This study compared the characteristics of work-related traffic crashes between male taxi drivers aged ≥65 years and <65 years. METHODS Using the national compensation data of South Korea, 586 injured male taxi drivers were analyzed based on driver-related (work experience, company size, employment status, injured body part, and injury type) and crash-related factors (time and day of the crash, weather condition, road type, violation and drowsiness) by age group. RESULTS For the injured drivers aged >65, percentages of the crashes related to some factors were lower than those of the drivers aged <65 years: at night (55.2% vs. 64.0%), on rainy or snowy day (7.8% vs. 21.3%), on straight road (40.5% vs 50.9%) and on the expressway (6.9% vs. 13.0%). However, the percentage of the crashes related to a violation for the injured drivers aged >65 years (23.3%) was higher than that of the drivers aged <65 years (13.4%). Furthermore, the taxi drivers aged ≥65 years had a higher death rate (14.7%) than the drivers aged <65 years (8.5%). CONCLUSIONS The results can be useful for injury prevention policies and guidelines for elderly taxi drivers such as strengthened qualification tests for the aged drivers and improvement of the working environment.