(WWJ) New research shows women are much more likely than men to suffer a serious injury when they are involved in an auto crash.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says although statists shows men are involved in more fatal crashes than women, on a per-crash basis women are up to 28% more likely than men to be killed, and as much as 73% more likely to be seriously injured, after adjusting for speed and other factors.
For the study, the institute analyzed injuries of men and women in police-reported tow-away front and side crashes from 1998 to 2015. Among more specific findings were that in front crashes, women were three times as likely to experience a broken bone, concussion or other moderate injury. And they were twice as likely to suffer a serious one like a collapsed lung or traumatic brain injury.
All of this, however, has little to do with the physical differences between men and women, says the Institute's Jessica Jermakian.
She said it's more about external factors.
"That includes things like the types of cars that woman tend to drive, where they sit in the vehicle and the types of crahshes they tend to be in," Jermakian told WWJ Auto Beat Reporter Jeff Gilbert.
The cars that many women driver tend to be smaller and lighter than bigger trucks and SUVs favored by men, Jermakian said.
"Once you account for that, the difference in the odds of most injuries narrows dramatically," she said.
Recently, the discrepancy in injury risk for men and women has prompted calls for new crash test dummies that better reflect how women's bodies react to the forces of collisions and other changes to crash-testing programs. With this new study, IIHS sought to shed more light on the issue and to see what kind of changes to its vehicle testing program might be warranted.
In a separate analysis of data from the federal Fatality Analysis Reporting System, the researchers also found that in two-vehicle front-to-rear and front-to-side crashes, men are more likely to be driving the striking vehicle. Because the driver of the striking vehicle is at lower risk of injury than the struck vehicle in such crashes, this could also account for some of the differences in crash outcomes for men and women.
The researchers' analysis of compatible front crashes did show a few some sex-related differences. Women were still more than 2½ times as likely to suffer moderate leg injuries.
"The good news is that changes like strengthening the occupant compartment and improving seat belts and airbags have helped protect both men and women," said Jermakian. "Homing in on the risk disparities that still exist in compatible crashes gives us a great opportunity to make further gains."
For more information, go to iihs.org.
