Many people believe that older drivers aren't safe drivers. An interesting study has looked into the incidence of older truckers to determine if there should be regulations that are based on a trucker's age. Currently, there aren't any forced retirement ages that are in place for the trucking industry. The airline industry forces pilots to retire at 65 years old; however, that doesn't transfer to the trucking industry.
With the current economy, older Americans are turning to the trucking industry to make ends meet. Truckers who have already retired from other industries are finding a fresh start and new money in trucking. In some cases, truckers older than 90 years old are still on the roadways. In 2015, there was one semi-truck accident involving a trucker who was 85 to 89 years old.
Some people worry that these older truckers pose a risk to other drivers on the road. The fact is that any semi-truck driver can pose a risk to other drivers if they aren't paying close attention to their driving duties.
Looking at the accident numbers for 2015 in California, 81 accidents involved truckers who were 70 years old or older. The majority of those, 46 to be exact, involved truckers who were 70 to 74 years old. These numbers are much lower than some other states in the nation, which is interesting considering the size and population of California compared to some other states.
Regardless of a trucker's age, victims of semi-truck crashes might choose to seek compensation if the trucker was at fault. These claims for compensation can help victims to recover the cost of medical bills and similar damages that they had because of the accident.
Source: CBS News, "Are older commercial truck drivers causing more danger on nation's highways?," accessed March 31, 2017
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