Delaware senior driving, by the numbers

Every figure on this page is published by the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles. Each one links back to the DMV page it came from, so you can check it yourself.

250,000+Delaware drivers aged over 60.

Delaware DMV expects this to increase about 25% by 2030. Source

~25%Share of Delaware's population that will be over 65 by 2030.

Delaware DMV, Did You Know?

6thDelaware's projected national rank for ratio of seniors to general population by 2030.

Delaware DMV, Did You Know?

17% / 14% / 18%Older drivers as a share of Delaware drivers, of fatal crashes, and of crashes involving pedestrians.

Delaware DMV, Did You Know?

10%Share of all Delaware crashes in which the senior driver is the one charged.

Delaware DMV, Did You Know?

~20 decisions per mileMajor decisions a driver makes for each mile driven, frequently with less than half a second to act to avoid a collision.

Delaware DMV, Did You Know?

How to read these figures

Two of them are easy to misuse, so it is worth being careful.

The 17% / 14% comparison is good news, not bad. Older drivers are a larger share of Delaware's licensed drivers than of its fatal crashes. Taken alone, that does not describe a dangerous group.

The pedestrian figure is the one that stands out. 18% of crashes involving pedestrians, against 17% of drivers, is the only place in these numbers where older drivers are over-represented. Crossings, turning across traffic and judging the speed of an approaching person are the specific skills that change with age — which is exactly what Delaware's countdown pedestrian signals and larger intersection signs are aimed at. See what the state has done.

These are the DMV's published figures. The DMV does not state the collection year for them on that page, so they should be read as the state's own current summary rather than as a dated statistic.