A new report reveals that male drivers are three times more likely to be in road collisions with pedestrians. According to new analysis from The Guardian, male drivers in Great Britain are three times more likely than women to be involved in a road collision that injures or kills a pedestrian. The data has revealed that the gap between men and women has increased over the past ten years.
Road accident and journey data over 2020 and the fist six months of 2021 show that 4363 male drivers were involved in incidents compared to 1473 females.
This means that for every 10 million journeys, men are caught in 2.8 serious collisions compared to 1.04 for female drivers.
The Guardian’s analysis looked at data that began in 2002 – and has revealed that the number of men involved in these incidents has steadily risen from around 2.2 incidents per 10 million journeys in 2010.
The data does not include cases where the sex of the driver wasn’t recorded.
Due to the data being recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic, the total number of collisions has fallen.
Around a third of crashes and serious collisions involving pedestrians resulted in major injuries or death for male drivers.
This drops to 28% for female drivers involved in similar incidents on the roads.
Male drivers are also more likely to die in a road collision. Shockingly, according to the Department for Transport (DfT) of all the drivers who died in all road collisions last year, 78% were male.
Data from road safety charity Brake stated that men were more than three times as likely to break the speak limit compared to women. The same survey revealed that 30% of men admitted to driving over 100mph compared to just 9% of women.
Further analysis from The Guardian found that one in four pedestrian deaths in Great Britain involve being hit by a van, truck, or bus – rather than a car or bike.
Mary Williams, CEO of Brake, said: “We’ve found in previous research that males are more likely to risk-take, for example by speeding. We know that across the piece, offending in society that involves violent behaviours, and behaviours that can hurt other people, is often more men than women. When you’re behind the wheel of a vehicle you are in charge of a killing machine.”
The RAC urges all drivers to respect the speed limits on our roads, be safe and aware of your surroundings.
