Women More Likely to Be Injured in a Car Accident Than Men According to a Recent Report
May 20, 2022
A recent report published by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety concluded that women have a higher risk than men of being injured in car accidents of equal severity. The report cites several factors as potentially contributing to the disparity in car accident injury rates between women and men. There are steps women can take to help keep themselves safer behind the wheel.
IIHS Study Finds Women at Greater Risk of Car Accident Injuries
The IIHS report relied on data from reported accidents that occurred from 1998 through 2015. Analysis of the data showed that women were three times as likely as men to sustain injuries like concussions or fractures in frontal crashes. Women also had a higher risk of suffering severe injuries like internal organ injury and traumatic brain injury.
Why Are Women More Likely to Be Injured in Car Accidents?
The IIHS report cited several factors as contributing to women’s higher risk of being injured in car accidents, including:
- 70 percent of women injured in car accidents were driving passenger vehicles, compared to 60 percent of men. Conversely, 20 percent of men injured in accidents were driving pickup trucks, compared to only five percent of women. This means that women were more likely to be riding in the smaller vehicle involved in a collision.
- Men were more likely to be driving the vehicle that caused the accident, whereas women were more likely to be in the vehicle that was hit.
- Even accounting for vehicle size, women were twice as likely to sustain moderate injuries in a motor vehicle accident and slightly more likely than men to suffer serious injuries.
- Federal crash testing did not begin using dummies appropriately sized to the average female size until 2011. As a result, vehicle crash protection was designed for the average male, while the average woman is about five inches shorter. Because many female drivers must sit closer to the steering and pedals, vehicles whose safety design does not take this into account are more likely to inflict leg and chest injuries on female drivers.
By raw numbers, men were more likely to suffer fatal injuries in car accidents. However, after adjusting for speed, the IIHS report found that women had a 28 percent higher risk of fatal injury and a 73 percent higher risk of serious injuries.
How Can Women Protect Themselves from Car Accidents
Fortunately, there are steps that women can take to help reduce their chances of being involved in a car accident and reduce their risk of moderate, severe, or fatal injury if they do get into a wreck. Critical tips include:
- Making sure to always buckle up, whether sitting in the driver or front passenger seat or in the rear seat
- Purchasing a vehicle that is equipped with advanced safety technology, such as front collision warning, automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning/lane keep assist, or side curtain airbags
- Choosing a vehicle that is crash-tested using female crash test dummies to ensure that the vehicle’s crash rating is also relevant to female occupants
Contact a Pittsburgh Personal Injury Lawyer to Discuss Your Car Accident Case in Pennsylvania
Did you or a loved one sustain serious injuries due to a car accident in Pennsylvania? Don’t let the medical bills pile up while you wait for the negligent party or their insurance company to do the right thing. Right now, you need an aggressive personal injury attorney on your side, fighting to get you the compensation you need, want, and deserve. The skilled attorneys at Goodrich & Geist, P.C. represent clients injured because of car accidents in Pittsburgh and the surrounding Western PA counties. Call 412-837-8426 or fill out our online contact form to schedule a free consultation about your case. We have an office conveniently located at 3634 California Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15212. Home visits can be arranged in certain situations.
The articles on this blog are for informative purposes only and are no substitute for legal advice or an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking legal advice, please contact our law firm directly.
