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From Journo Research

Beaufort County ranks as one of America’s most dangerous for older drivers, according to a new study by a personal injury attorney.

The study has revealed where in America older drivers are most likely to be involved in fatal crashes, with White County in Georgia topping the list.

The research carried out by Board-Certified personal injury attorney Dismuke Law scrutinized fatal crash records between 2017 and 2021 from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It looked at the number of drivers aged 65 and older who were involved in deadly collisions in each county across America – only counties with a minimum of 50 drivers involved were included in the study.

North Carolina’s Haywood and Beaufort Counties are in joint eighth place for their rate of drivers over 65 being involved in fatal crashes, each with a rate of 30%. Haywood saw 18 senior drivers out of 60, while Beaufort saw 15 out of 50.

White County in Georgia emerges as the worst county for older drivers, with 34% of drivers involved in fatal crashes being 65 or older. That is based on 17 out of 50 drivers in total being a senior citizen, resulting in a rate that is the highest among the 1,210 counties that were analyzed.

Following White County is Worth County in Georgia, with 19 seniors constituting 31.67% of the 60 drivers in fatal crashes.

Effingham County in Illinois ranks third overall and is the first non-Georgia county in the list, where 31.58%, or 18 out of 57 drivers were seniors.

Dubuque County in Iowa ranks fourth, with a 31.37% involvement of senior drivers in fatal crashes, based on 16 drivers aged 65 or older being involved in fatal collisions out of 51 drivers in total.

Florida’s Sumter County is fifth, recording a 30.65% senior involvement in deadly collisions, based on 57 drivers over the age of 65 out of a total 186 drivers in fatal crashes.

The ranking sees Maine’s Somerset County in sixth place with a 30.51% (18 out of 59) share of senior drivers in fatal crashes, and Pennsylvania’s Northumberland County in seventh with 30.26% (23 out of 76).

Rounding out the top ten is Texas’s San Jacinto County, where 29.63% of drivers in fatal crashes were over the age of 65, representing 16 out of 54 drivers.

A spokesperson from Dismuke Law commented: “Overall, there were more than 74,000 drivers over the age of 65 who were involved in fatal crashes over the five-year period that the study measured. This data is an important reminder that even the most experienced drivers can be at risk each time they drive and that all drivers should prioritize safe and cautious driving every time they use the road.”