Certain Car Crashes Associated with Gender

A new research shows an association between gender and car crashes.

Researchers at the Kansas State University assessed the car accident data of drivers aged between 16 and 24 from 2007 to 2011.

The findings showed various differences in the types of crashes between young men and women. The study found that 66 percent of young women wore seat belts compared to men. Moreover, the women were also 28 percent more likely to drive on a restricted license than young men.

Researchers noted that the young women were mostly involved in the accidents at intersections and collisions with pedestrians, whereas night accidents were more common in young men.

Young female drivers were found to be nvolved in crashes during weekdays and young male drivers were likely to meet with accidents over the weekends. Furthermore, the young male drivers had more off-road crashes than young females.

"These findings show that gender differences do exist in young drivers when it comes to safety," researcher Sunanda Dissanayake, professor of civil engineering at Kansas State University said in a press release. "That makes sense because crashes are random events."

"There are often different risk factors for young male and young female drivers because their behavior and attitude are generally different," Dissanayake said. "This may help explain why one gender is more likely to be involved in a certain type of crash. For example, young males may have more off-road crashes because this crash type is more frequently involved with speeding on rural roads - a driving habit exhibited more by young males than young females."

"Age is one of the most important factors of highway safety, and crash data shows that young drivers and older drivers are involved in more crashes than any other age group," Dissanayake said. "For young drivers, this is especially concerning because people in this age group have their whole lives ahead of them and these crashes are frequently severe or fatal."

The study findings were published in the Journal of Safety Research.