American researchers have managed to explain why women are more likely to be injured or killed in a road accident. The results of their study have shown that it is not due to differences neither physical nor psychological between both sexes.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) explains that women are more often injured by the size and type of vehicle they choose, as well as the type of crashes in which they are involved.
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According to specialists, men tend to drive more recklessly and, on average, spend more time on the road than women. However, in a two-car crash a man is more likely to drive a large, heavy vehicle (especially vans), which offer more protection to its occupants. In addition, men are more often responsible for the crash, and not the victims, which also corresponds to a lower risk of injury.
When investigators compared the frontal and side crashes recorded in the US between 1998 and 2015, they realized that women were three times more likely to suffer a moderate injury and twice as likely to suffer a serious injury as men.
The results of the study showed that about 70% of women involved in accidents were in small cars rather than larger vehicles. And yet 20% of the drivers of the crashed vans were men, compared to less than 5% of women behind the wheel of such cars in similar situations.
Even in the sample group – which showed a similar risk of injury for both sexes – women were 2.5 times more likely to suffer moderate injuries to the legs and 70% more likely to suffer serious injuries to this part of the body compared to men.
Experts say that choosing your vehicle carefully can reduce the risk of injury in an accident regardless of whether you are a man or a woman. According to the IIHS, the occupants of those vehicles that scored higher in their crash test were less likely to suffer head and lower body injuries regardless of gender.
