Traffic accidents: Men cause more frequent and more serious accidents

dpa | Almost three quarters of all people killed in road traffic are men. Last year, 73.6 percent of those killed were male, as the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced on World Men's Day on Tuesday. Men made up 64 percent of the seriously injured and 57.1 percent of the slightly injured.

“The risk of having an accident is significantly higher for men,” explained the experts. Last year, 526 boys and men per 100,000 inhabitants had accidents in road traffic, and per 100,000 inhabitants there were 369 girls and women. The number of fatal accidents rose to 5 for men and 2 per 100,000 for women.

“The reasons for this are diverse,” said the Federal Office. “Overall, men participate more in road traffic and use means of transport with more serious accident consequences, such as motorcycles, more often.” Results on the causes of accidents also indicated that women behave more cautiously in traffic.

The gender differences are most clear among young people, it said. According to the statistics office, around 28,600 men between the ages of 15 and 20 had accidents in road traffic. That is 70.5 percent more than for women of the same age. “161 young men died in traffic accidents, five times as many as women aged 15 to 20 (32).”

And not only are men more likely to be injured or killed, they are also more likely to be the main cause of accidents. Last year, men were the main culprits in 56.1 percent of accidents involving injured people.

According to statistics, men and women do different things wrong in traffic. It was said that most mistakes for both sexes occurred when turning, reversing, reversing and entering and exiting. For men, however, the distance to another vehicle is too short and the speed is not adjusted. For women, disregarding the right of way was in second place and lack of distance was in third place.