When and Where Do Older Drivers Crash in Massachusetts?

Crashes involving a Massachusetts driver aged 75 or older happen mostly in the middle of the day, are more likely than average to injure or kill someone, and are rising faster than crashes overall. MassDOT’s crash records for 2022 through 2024 show 29,985 crashes in which the oldest driver involved was 75 or older, 7.40 percent of the 405,242 crashes statewide; 59.79 percent of them happened between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., against 37.02 percent of all crashes. The yearly count climbed from 9,214 in 2022 to 10,657 in 2024, an increase of 15.66 percent, while all crashes rose 0.72 percent.

This page sets out what the records show by hour, crash type, county and town, how the numbers compare with the teen driver data, and what Massachusetts law says about older drivers’ licenses and about claims after a crash. It is general information built from public data, not advice about a particular crash.

What the Data Measures

MassDOT’s open crash database records every police-reported crash in Massachusetts. The field used here, AGE_DRVR_OLDEST, stores the age band of the oldest driver involved in each crash. A crash lands in the “75 to 84” band when the oldest driver was 75 to 84, whoever else was involved.

Three limits govern how the numbers can be read:

1. It says nothing about fault. A crash in which a 30-year-old runs a red light into an 80-year-old’s car counts in the 75 to 84 band, exactly like one the 80-year-old caused.
2. It counts crashes, not drivers or miles. The data does not say how many older people drive or how far, so a band’s size is not a crash rate per driver.
3. About 5 percent of crashes have no age recorded. Statewide, 20,603 crashes (5.08 percent) carry no oldest-driver age, which can happen when a driver leaves the scene, and the share differs by county and town. Every share below that compares places is calculated against crashes with a known age.

The bands are the ones MassDOT uses: 65 to 74, 75 to 84, and over 84. This page treats 75 and older as “older drivers” because 75 is the age at which Massachusetts law changes how a license is renewed.

How Severe Are Older Driver Crashes?

This is the clearest finding, and it runs the opposite way from the teen data. Per crash, severity rises steadily with the age of the oldest driver.

Oldest driver in the crash	Crashes, 2022 to 2024	Share with an injury	Deaths per 1,000 crashes
65 to 74	46,796	24.30%	2.93
75 to 84	23,950	25.62%	4.13
Over 84	6,035	26.63%	5.30
75 and older combined	29,985	25.83%	4.37
All crashes	405,242	22.89%	2.68

The pattern sharpens when every driver involved is older. The companion youngest-driver field shows 7,438 crashes in which the youngest driver was 75 or older, which means every driver in the crash was at least 75, and 69 of them involved a death: 9.28 per 1,000 crashes, more than three times the statewide rate. In the 16 to 17 band the same measure was 2.11 per 1,000, as the teen driver crash data article sets out.

Severity per crash is not the same thing as danger per driver. The likeliest reading, and it is an inference rather than something the records measure, is physical: an older body is more easily hurt in the same collision, so a crash of the same force is more likely to be recorded as an injury or a death. The crash type also matters, and that is the next table.

What Kind of Crashes Older Drivers Have

The manner of collision field records how the vehicles met. Older driver crashes are weighted heavily toward one type.

Manner of collision	Crashes with a driver 75 or older	All crashes
Angle	34.96% (10,483)	23.91%
Rear-end	20.99%	24.53%
Sideswipe, same direction	13.51%	13.75%
Single vehicle	13.39% (4,016)	22.86%
Head-on	2.92%	2.37%

An angle crash is one in which the front of one vehicle hits the side of another, the typical shape of a crash at an intersection or a left turn across traffic. More than a third of older driver crashes are angle crashes, against fewer than a quarter of all crashes, and angle crashes put the impact into a door rather than a crumple zone. Single-vehicle crashes, the run-off-the-road crashes that dominate late-night driving, are a much smaller share. The site’s article on intersection crash data covers where angle crashes happen statewide, and the article on intersection accident fault covers how fault is decided in one.

Older Driver Crashes by Hour

The hour pattern is the mirror image of the teen data. Teen crashes peak at school start and dismissal; older driver crashes are concentrated in the late morning and early afternoon and almost vanish at night.

Hour of the crash	Crashes with a driver 75 or older	All crashes
7 a.m. to 7:59 a.m.	2.34%	4.85%
10 a.m. to 3:59 p.m. combined	59.79% (17,927)	37.02%
2 p.m. to 2:59 p.m.	11.30%	7.27%
5 p.m. to 5:59 p.m.	6.72%	7.92%
9 p.m. to 5:59 a.m. combined	2.86% (857)	15.74%

Most drivers over 75 are no longer commuting, and many choose to avoid driving in the dark, so the midday concentration is what exposure alone would predict. The data does not record trip purpose, so that is an inference. What the records do show is that an older driver crash is very unlikely to be a late-night crash: fewer than 3 in 100 happened between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Older Driver Crashes Are Rising

Of the age bands in the file, 75 and older grew fastest over the three years.

1. 2022: 9,214 crashes with a driver 75 or older, 44 of them fatal.
2. 2023: 10,114 crashes, 37 fatal.
3. 2024: 10,657 crashes, 50 fatal.

Total crashes in Massachusetts barely moved over the same years, from 134,472 to 135,444. The 65 to 74 band also rose, from 14,885 to 16,268. Part of that rise is better record-keeping, which moves crashes into the age bands: crashes with no driver age fell from 7,836 in 2022 to 5,638 in 2024. That accounts for only a small part of it, since crashes with a known age grew 2.50 percent in total against 15.66 percent for the 75 and older band. Beyond that, the records cannot say why. More older residents keeping their licenses longer would produce exactly this pattern without any change in how safely they drive, and the database has no count of licensed drivers by age to test it. Fatal counts this small move a lot from year to year, so the three-year totals are a safer guide than any single year.

Answer Capsule

MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 show 29,985 crashes in which the oldest driver was 75 or older, 7.40 percent of 405,242 statewide, rising from 9,214 in 2022 to 10,657 in 2024 (up 15.66 percent) while all crashes rose 0.72 percent. They are concentrated between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. (59.79 percent, against 37.02 percent of all crashes) and are rare at night. Per crash they are more serious: 25.83 percent involved an injury and 4.37 per 1,000 a death, against 22.89 percent and 2.68 overall, rising to 9.28 deaths per 1,000 when every driver was 75 or older. Angle crashes are 34.96 percent of them, against 23.91 percent of all crashes. By county the share of crashes with a known driver age runs from 15.08 percent in Barnstable to 3.50 percent in Suffolk. Massachusetts requires drivers 75 and older to renew in person under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 8, but sets no age at which a license ends.

Older Driver Crashes by County

Where older driver crashes happen tracks where older residents live and drive. Cape Cod stands apart.

County	Crashes with a driver 75 or older	Share of crashes with a known driver age	Crashes with no age recorded
Barnstable	2,259	15.08%	3.3%
Dukes	73	11.15%	2.4%
Berkshire	860	10.90%	3.1%
Hampshire	805	10.87%	2.1%
Franklin	315	9.49%	3.8%
Nantucket	64	8.93%	9.5%
Plymouth	2,631	8.40%	2.4%
Norfolk	3,319	8.19%	3.1%
Bristol	3,633	7.77%	5.6%
Essex	3,328	7.77%	5.2%
Middlesex	5,772	7.41%	6.4%
Worcester	3,958	6.94%	4.0%
Hampden	2,245	6.89%	5.9%
Suffolk	723	3.50%	11.1%

In Barnstable County, more than one crash in seven with a known driver age involved a driver 75 or older, and a third (33.29 percent) involved a driver 65 or older. Middlesex County has the most older driver crashes by count, 5,772, because it has the most crashes of any county. Suffolk County, which is Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop, is lowest at 3.50 percent and also has the highest share of crashes with no age recorded, so part of its gap may be missing data. The Cape Cod crash data article covers the Cape’s seasonal pattern, which is a separate effect from the age pattern here.

County matters for a practical reason too. A Massachusetts civil case is filed in a county set by where the parties live or have a usual place of business under M.G.L. c. 223, sec. 1, not by where the crash happened, so a crash on a Barnstable County road between a local driver and a visitor can be heard in a different county.

Older Driver Crashes by Town

Among towns with 400 or more crashes over the three years, the highest shares of crashes involving a driver 75 or older are on the Cape and in western Massachusetts:

• Falmouth: 390 of its 2,146 crashes, 19.45 percent of those with a known age. Falmouth crash report.
• Dennis: 181, 18.14 percent.
• Harwich: 136, 17.06 percent.
• Yarmouth: 283, 16.76 percent. Yarmouth crash report.
• Barnstable: 460 of 3,703, 12.75 percent. Barnstable crash report.
• Northampton: 199, 12.48 percent.
• Pittsfield: 299, 11.07 percent. Pittsfield crash report.
• Plymouth: 297 of 2,735, 11.03 percent. Plymouth crash report.

The cities sit at the other end. Worcester had 722 such crashes, the most of any Massachusetts town or city, ahead of New Bedford (663) and Fall River (584), but they were only 5.03 percent of its crashes with a known age; Springfield 480 (4.63 percent); Boston 487 of 17,408 (3.23 percent); Lawrence 152 (2.98 percent). Boston also records no driver age for 13.5 percent of its crashes, against 1.6 percent in Plymouth, which is why these shares are a map of where older driver crashes are concentrated, not a ranking of which towns are dangerous. The full figures for every town are on the crash report.

What Massachusetts Law Says About Older Drivers

Massachusetts has no age at which a driver’s license ends and no road test triggered by age alone. The rules that do apply are in M.G.L. c. 90.

• In-person renewal at 75. Section 8 provides: “An applicant for renewal of a license who is 75 years of age or older shall apply for renewal in person at a registry branch office.” A license runs for no more than 60 months between renewals.
• A vision check at renewal. An applicant who renews in person must pass the registry’s vision test, or provide a vision screening certificate signed by an optometrist or ophthalmologist.
• No discrimination by age. Section 8 requires the registrar to set the licensing examination “without discriminating as to age.”
• Fitness reviews based on a condition, not a birthday. Under c. 90, sec. 8C, the registrar can refer a driver to a medical advisory board of physicians when there is reason to believe a physical or mental disability makes that person’s driving a threat to public safety. The review turns on the medical condition, not on age.

Claims After a Crash With an Older Driver

Age does not change how fault is decided. A Massachusetts negligence claim turns on what each driver did, and an older driver is held to the same standard of care as anyone else. What changes is often the size and the shape of the injury.

1. PIP pays first. Personal injury protection, the no-fault part of every Massachusetts auto policy, pays at least $8,000 per person for medical expenses incurred within two years and for lost wages, regardless of fault, under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34A. The PIP article explains how it is used.
2. The car’s policy covers the driver it was lent to. Section 34A requires every policy to protect anyone driving with the owner’s consent, which matters when an adult child’s car is driven by a parent, or the reverse.
3. Shared fault reduces, but does not bar, recovery. Under M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 85, an injured person whose negligence was not greater than that of the people they sue can still recover, with damages reduced in proportion. The comparative negligence article covers how that is applied.
4. The deadline is three years. Most tort claims must be filed within three years under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 2A. For an older person whose recovery is slow, the extent of an injury may not be clear for months, which is a reason to keep the medical records together from the start.

Key terms

• Oldest-driver age band: the MassDOT field recording the age range of the oldest driver in a crash, which is how a crash is counted as an older driver crash here.
• Youngest-driver age band: the companion field; when it reads 75 or older, every driver in the crash was at least 75.
• Known-age share: the percentage of a place’s crashes, among those with a driver age recorded, that fall in a given band.
• Angle crash: a collision in which the front of one vehicle strikes the side of another, typical of intersections and left turns.
• Medical advisory board: the registry’s panel of physicians under c. 90, sec. 8C, which advises on whether a medical condition makes a person unfit to drive.
• Comparative negligence: the rule in c. 231, sec. 85 that reduces damages by the injured person’s share of fault, and bars recovery only when that share is greater than the defendants’.

Using These Numbers

The records are best read as a map of exposure. For an older driver and their family, they point at intersections and left turns as the crash type most over-represented, and at midday as when most of these crashes happen. For anyone hurt in a crash with an older driver, they are background, not proof; the police report, the witnesses and the insurance policies decide the claim. Town-by-town figures are on the crash report, and the practice overview is on the auto accidents page, including the city pages for Plymouth, Quincy, Newton and Worcester.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How many crashes involve older drivers in Massachusetts?

A: From 2022 through 2024, MassDOT recorded 29,985 crashes in which the oldest driver was 75 or older, 7.40 percent of 405,242 crashes, and 46,796 in which the oldest driver was 65 to 74.

Q: Are older driver crashes increasing in Massachusetts?

A: Yes. Crashes with a driver 75 or older rose from 9,214 in 2022 to 10,657 in 2024, an increase of 15.66 percent, while all crashes rose 0.72 percent. The data does not say whether that reflects more older drivers on the road or a change in how they drive.

Q: Are crashes involving older drivers more serious?

A: Per crash, yes. With a driver 75 or older, 25.83 percent of crashes involved an injury and 4.37 per 1,000 a death, against 22.89 percent and 2.68 per 1,000 for all crashes. When every driver was 75 or older, the death rate was 9.28 per 1,000.

Q: What time of day do older drivers crash most?

A: Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when 59.79 percent of crashes with a driver 75 or older happened, against 37.02 percent of all crashes. Only 2.86 percent happened between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Q: Which Massachusetts county has the highest share of older driver crashes?

A: Barnstable County, where 15.08 percent of crashes with a known driver age involved a driver 75 or older. Suffolk County had the lowest share, 3.50 percent.

Q: Do older drivers have to retake the driving test in Massachusetts?

A: No age triggers a road test. Under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 8, drivers 75 and older must renew in person at a registry branch, where a vision test or an eye doctor’s screening certificate is required. A driver of any age can be referred to the registry’s medical advisory board under c. 90, sec. 8C if a medical condition raises a safety concern.

Q: Is an older driver automatically at fault in a crash?

A: No. Fault turns on each driver’s conduct, not age, and under M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 85 damages are reduced by an injured person’s share of fault rather than barred unless that share is greater than the other side’s.

Q: Is Jimmy Knows AI giving me legal advice?

A: No. This is general information drawn from MassDOT’s public crash records and the Massachusetts statutes, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. A specific crash should be reviewed with a lawyer.

Talking to a Lawyer

A crash involving an older driver or an older passenger often brings slower recoveries, health insurance and Medicare questions, and family members helping to manage the claim. Getting the police report, the policy information and the medical records together early makes each of those simpler.

Jim Glaser Law can be reached at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day. The first telephone consultation is offered without charge. Cases accepted on a contingency basis carry no attorney fee unless there is a recovery, and case costs and expenses are addressed in the written fee agreement signed at intake.