VETERANS are more likely to be injured in road traffic accidents than people who have never been in the military, according to a study.
Glasgow University researchers looked at 57,000 veterans in Scotland born between 1945 and 1985. The veterans had a wide range of experience and lengths of service in the armed forces .
The study found the risk of being injured in a traffic accident was highest in people with the shortest service, and those who had never been deployed.
Those at the highest risk were in people in their 30s, irrespective of the time since they had left the services.
There was no evidence that the period immediately following discharge was especially risky. Researchers found that more recent veterans do not appear to be at increased risk, suggesting the Ministry of Defence (MoD) road safety programme is proving effective.
Previous studies have found that risky driving is common among serving personnel and the new research suggests this may persist after leaving the forces.
Lead researcher Dr Beverly Bergman said: “This is an important study which has confirmed there has been an increased risk of road traffic accidents in military veterans which is unrelated to deployment, but it is now reducing.”
The study, which used data from the Scottish Veterans Health Study, is published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention.
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