Why women are at greater risk than men during a car accident

No one is immune from a car accident, but a new study has found that women are more likely to be injured in a car accident, and the reason may surprise you.

Today, automobiles are arguably safer than ever thanks to standard safety features and the stricter safety standards to which they are manufactured, making it more likely that a driver or passenger will survive an accident without injury. a car accident. However, a study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that women are at higher risk of injury than men.

After identifying reasons such as vehicle choice, the study looks at fairly obvious ways that researchers can work with automakers to improve vehicle safety, especially for women.

Why are women more likely to be injured in car accidents?

While the IIHS study lists multiple reasons why women are more likely to be injured in a car accident, one stands out above the rest. According to the IIHS, women on average drive smaller and lighter cars than men. Given the smaller size, these compact cars tend to have lower crash safety ratings than larger vehicles.

According to the IIHS, men and women drive minivans at the same rate, and as a result, there is not much difference in the number of car accidents. However, the IIHS found that 70% of women were involved in car crashes compared to 60% of men. In addition, about 20% of men crashed in pickup trucks compared to 5% of women. Given the difference in size between cars, men were the most affected in these crashes.

The IIHS study examined head-on and side-on car crash statistics from 1998 to 2015. The findings revealed that women were three times more likely to sustain moderate injuries, such as a bone fracture or concussion. Additionally, women were twice as likely to suffer serious harm, such as a collapsed lung or traumatic brain injury.

Women are at higher risk, in part because of men

The study found that these car accident statistics were also directly affected by how men and women collide. In terms of front-to-rear and side-impact crashes, the IIHS study found that, on average, men are more likely to drive the vehicle that hits rather than the one that is hit.

Men, on average, drive more miles and are more likely to engage in risky behavior. These include speeding, drunk driving, and refusing to use.

Even though men are more likely to be involved in fatal car crashes, the IIHS found that women are 20-28% more likely to die. In addition, the study found that women are 37-73% more likely to be seriously injured. Regardless of the cause, these results point to poor vehicle safety, especially for women.

Biased crash tests are at the root of the problem

The way we fix these car crash issues is surprisingly simple. The industry-standard crash test dummy, which has been around since the 1970s, weighs 171 pounds and is 5'9". The problem here is that the mannequin is modeled to test the average male.

In contrast, the female doll is 4 feet 11 inches tall. As expected, this small size accounts for only 5% of women.

According to the IIHS, new mannequins need to be developed to reflect the reaction of the female body during a car accident. While this seems like an obvious solution, the question remains: why wasn't this done decades ago? Unfortunately, it appears that higher mortality and injury rates were the only factors significant enough to draw researchers' attention to this important issue.

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