After years of decline, U.S. highway fatalities have taken a jump in recent months, and that could be particularly bad news for men. Whether you blame testosterone or alcohol, male motorists are twice as likely to be killed behind the wheel as women, according to federal crash data.
Men tend to have more severe crashes than women, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports. But in comparable crashes, women are more likely than men to be killed or injured. Separate studies have shown young men are particularly prone to being involved in fatal crashes, and the new NHTSA report indicates that the gap between men and women narrows with age.
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 just 9,733 women.
The NHTSA study pointed to a variety of factors that could lie behind this gender gap:
Men put about 50% more miles on their vehicles each year than women, on average;
They tend to drive more aggressively, which often results in more severe crashes than for women;
Men also tend to be more likely to get behind the while drunk.
Nearly a quarter of the male drivers involved in a fatal crashes a in 2012 had blood alcohol levels of more than 0.08%, the point at which all states consider the motorist to be under the influence. By comparison only 15% of the female drivers fell into that category.
That may explain why the deadliest time for motorists coincides with closing time for bars. Midnight to 3 AM on Saturdays and Sundays is the 3-hour window when the largest number of highway fatalities are likely to occur.
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