There are many factors that can influence the chances of you suffering an injury or dying in a car accident. You may think of things such as wearing a seat belt or sitting properly in the seat.
Did you also know your gender may be a factor as well? According to Car and Driver, research shows that women have a higher chance of injury or even death in an auto accident than men.
Number of crashes
One thing that makes it difficult to understand women being at a higher risk is that men statistically get into more accidents than women. Common sense may then say men would suffer more injuries and deaths, but that is not what the research shows.
Reasons for the findings
While women do not get in as many accidents, when they do, the type of accident is usually more severe. Women are more often in the vehicle struck in an accident. In other words, they are the victim more than the at-fault driver.
This means they take a harder hit than the other vehicle, which naturally leads to more injuries and more severity of those injuries.
Women also drive vehicles that offer less protection and suffer more damage in a crash. Men tend to drive bigger vehicles whereas women often drive smaller cars, which provide less security.
In many accidents, women are driving a small vehicle and the at-fault driver is in a larger vehicle. This creates the perfect conditions for the woman in the situation to suffer more injury and increases the potential for death.
