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Men More Likely Than Women to Die in Car Crashes, Report Says

Male motorists are twice as likely to be killed behind the wheel as women, according to new data.
Image: a car crash
Male motorists are twice as likely to be killed behind the wheel as women, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP
/ Source: The Detroit Bureau

After years of decline, highway fatalities have jumped in recent months, and that could be bad news for men. Male motorists are twice as likely to be killed behind the wheel as women, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.

In the recent report, federal researchers focused on crash data from 2012, a year in which 33,541 Americans were killed on the nation’s roadways. That broke down to 23,808 men and 9,733 women.

The NHTSA study pointed to factors that could lie behind this gender gap, including:

  • Men put about 50 percent more miles on their vehicles each year on average than women;
  • They tend to drive more aggressively than women, often resulting in more severe crashes;
  • And men are more likely to drive drunk.

Nearly a quarter of male drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2012 had blood alcohol levels of more than 0.08 percent, the point at which all states consider the motorist to be under the influence. By comparison, only 15 percent of the female drivers fell into that category.

The NHTSA noted that women are more likely than men to be involved in fender benders.

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