It’s a little puzzling. In general, older people are more likely to get into accidents than young people. Yet a new study out, led by researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, shows that children are less likely to be injured in car accidents if their grandparents are driving, rather than their parents.
The study was reportedly the first that compared parent drivers and grandparent drivers. Researchers studied insurance claims from 15 states plus the District of Columbia for a period of four years. For crashes involving children 15 or younger, they took a look at whether a grandparent or parent was at the wheel and how bad the crashes were.
The surprising statistics show that while grandparents drove in 10 percent of those accidents, they accounted for only 6.6 percent of the children’s injuries. The rest were caused by parent drivers. The injury rate per 100 occupants was reportedly 1.05 percent for parent drivers, and only 0.7 percent for grandparents. The injury rate was lower, despite the fact that grandparents were less likely to use proper restraints, including booster or car seats.
So if the elderly are generally more dangerous drivers, how can this be? According to FOX News, one possible explanation is that when grandparents are driving, they are constantly thinking about the responsibility of carting around young ones. It’s possible they take a more cautious approach to driving than parents do, since parents do it practically every day.
It wasn’t reported if further studies would take place, but with the surprising findings, researchers might want to delve a little deeper into the matter.
