Female involvement in fatal crashes: increasingly riskier or increasingly exposed?

Men have long held the lead in motor-vehicle crashes. However, recent research from a variety of countries indicates that women are closing the gap. The relative increase in females involved in crashes has been associated with an increase in crash exposure. But is it simply that there are more women driving that is causing this increase? Or are there other mediating factors? The main goal of this research effort was to shed some light on this controversy. We found evidence that most of the observed increase in female drivers' fatalities was due to a parallel increase in female driving exposure but that some groups of female drivers (mainly underage female drivers) have become more vulnerable to some risk-taking driving behaviors than others.

[1]  Allan F Williams,et al.  Responsibility of drivers, by age and gender, for motor-vehicle crash deaths. , 2003, Journal of safety research.

[2]  Robert Voas,et al.  Older women drivers: fatal crashes in good conditions. , 2003, Journal of safety research.

[3]  Elisa R Braver,et al.  Race, Hispanic origin, and socioeconomic status in relation to motor vehicle occupant death rates and risk factors among adults. , 2003, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[4]  M Hatakka,et al.  Novice drivers' accidents and violations--a failure on higher or lower hierarchical levels of driving behaviour. , 2001, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[5]  A Scott Tippetts,et al.  The Illinois .08 law. An evaluation. , 2002, Journal of safety research.

[6]  A Scott Tippetts,et al.  A meta-analysis of .08 BAC laws in 19 jurisdictions in the United States. , 2005, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[7]  R. Subramanian,et al.  TRANSITIONING TO MULTIPLE IMPUTATION - A NEW METHOD TO ESTIMATE MISSING BLOOD ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION (BAC) VALUES IN FARS , 2002 .

[8]  R B Voas,et al.  Deterring the drinking driver: the Stockton experience. , 1987, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[9]  R B Voas,et al.  The relationship of alcohol safety laws to drinking drivers in fatal crashes. , 2000, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[10]  A Scott Tippetts,et al.  Assessing the effectiveness of minimum legal drinking age and zero tolerance laws in the United States. , 2003, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[11]  Nikiforos Stamatiadis,et al.  Causal Factors for Accidents on Southeastern Low-Volume Rural Roads , 1999 .

[12]  S Laapotti,et al.  Differences in fatal loss-of-control accidents between young male and female drivers. , 1998, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[13]  Susan A Ferguson,et al.  Trends in fatal crashes involving female drivers, 1975-1998. , 2003, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[14]  Jacqueline Bergdahl.  An Application of Convergence Theory to Women's Drinking and Driving , 2000 .

[15]  S J Wylie.  Young female drivers in New Zealand. , 1995, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[16]  Sirpa Rajalin,et al.  Comparison of young male and female drivers' attitude and self-reported traffic behaviour in Finland in 1978 and 2001. , 2003, Journal of safety research.

[17]  Daniel R Mayhew,et al.  Changes in collision rates among novice drivers during the first months of driving. , 2003, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[18]  Ralph Hingson,et al.  Surrogate measures of alcohol involvement in fatal crashes: Are conventional indicators adequate? , 1985 .

[19]  J T Shope,et al.  Changes in young adult offense and crash patterns over time. , 2001, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[20]  A. S. Tippetts,et al.  Alcohol Involvement in Fatal Crashes Under Three Crash Exposure Measures , 2007, Traffic injury prevention.

[21]  N Stamatiadis,et al.  Trends in highway safety: effects of an aging population on accident propensity. , 1995, Accident; analysis and prevention.