Accidents and ID revocations: Who drives better, women or men?

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Some prejudices remain, especially regarding driving: AG of the canton of Aargau “Attention, danger!” signals that the Dutch never set out without a caravan. And of course, according to the patrons’ tables full of excellent driving men, women couldn’t drive anyway.

Blick can at least dispel the latest myth with hard numbers and facts. Accident statistics, like the 2019 figures from the Federal Highway Office (Astra), show the exact opposite of the bias: female drivers were responsible for only a quarter (13,915 to be exact) of the 53,528 traffic accidents registered in Switzerland. A man was behind the wheel in 34,665 accidents. The most common causes of accidents: Driving too fast, carelessness, drunk driving.

Men are causing more and more serious accidents

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a city or a country, German- or French-speaking Switzerland, or which canton it is: Graubeğen (490 women to 1577 men), Ticino (1036 – 2369), Vaud (1240 – 3157) or Zurich (3958 – 9995). – Men are far ahead of women in accident statistics everywhere. And men not only cause more accidents, but also more serious accidents (which is why they often pay more to car insurers than women) and have to surrender their driver’s licenses much more often: 1 in nearly 80,000 ID cards confiscated in 2019 80 percent of cases affected men; So even the fifth woman was not affected.

Meanwhile, young road users in particular are required to surrender their driving licences: the 25 to 29 age group is most affected, followed by those aged 20 to 24 and those aged 30 to 34, regardless of gender.

The typical sinner is young and male

Men often argue: “Logically, men cause more accidents and women drive less.” Wrong! Research shows that there is virtually no difference in mileage per person today, at most in the single-digit percentage range. Moreover, the number of women holding a driver’s license is not decreasing significantly: in 2022, almost 2.9 million women had a driver’s license, compared to 3.3 million men. This corresponds to a ratio of 47 to 53 percent; The male-female accident rate is far from 25 to 75 percent.

“The more serious the traffic crime, the lower the proportion of women,” explains traffic psychologist Rahel Bieri in an interview with “Landbote”. When it comes to willful and willful breaking of the rules, men are almost exclusively affected; This constancy can be found not only in road traffic but in all areas of law.

“Young, male, and of low socioeconomic status” best describes typical traffic offenders. The rate for women was higher – but only modestly – if carelessness or the influence of alcohol and drugs is thought to have played a role. The main conclusion of our fact check is that phrases like “woman at the wheel, monster” are not only sexist but also objectively false.

Source: Blick