[The effect of age, sex, and experience on the risk of causing a car collision in drivers aged 18-24 years old].
OBJECTIVE
To assess the separate effects of age, sex, and experience on the risk of drivers aged 18-24 years being actively involved in a car collision in Spain from 1990 to 1999.


METHODS
For this matched case-control study, data were obtained from the Spanish Register of Traffic Crashes with Victims held by the General Directorate of Transport. The study population comprised all drivers involved in car collisions in which only one of the drivers committed a traffic infraction. Drivers who committed infractions constituted the case group while non-infracting drivers involved in the same collision were their corresponding matched controls. Drivers with incomplete or inconsistent data were excluded and a total of 123,586 cases and 140,482 controls was studied. Crude and adjusted (for the effect of potential confounders) odds ratio (OR) were obtained for each combination of driver age (from 18 to 24 years old), sex and years in possession of a driving license (from 0 to 7).


RESULTS
For each category of age and years in possession of a driving license, OR estimates for men were usually higher than those for women. In men, crude and adjusted OR significantly decreased with increasing number of years in possession of a driving license for each age group. A similar but less clear trend was also observed for female drivers. After adjustment for the effect of the number of years in possession of a driving license, driver age did not seem to be strongly associated with the risk of being actively involved in a car collision.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that the effect of inexperience is more important than that of age in explaining the higher risk of being involved in a traffic crash in the youngest drivers.
Jiménez-Moleón
José Juan
JJ
Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
Lardelli-Claret
Pablo
P
Luna-del-Castillo
Juan de Dios
Jde D
García-Martín
Miguel
M
Bueno-Cavanillas
Aurora
A
Gálvez-Vargas
Ramón
R
D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001334:Automobile Driving; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain; D013997:Time Factors