Do Men or Women Have a Higher Risk of Being Injured or Killed in a Car Accident? Examining the Factors Behind the Numbers from a Houston Car Accident Attorney’s Perspective.

By Rashmi Parthasarathi | November 21, 2024

  • More than Half of the Licensed Drivers in the United States are Women

About a decade ago, several academic studies were published about the changing demographics of drivers in the United States highlighting fact that female drivers in the United States outnumbered male drivers for the first time. The trend of more women than men getting driver’s licenses was predicted to continue and accelerate, as part of the growing demographic and societal shifts happening within the United States as a whole. In 2024, there are still more women with driver’s licenses than men in the United States, with women comprising approximately 51% of all licensed drivers.

  • Men in the United States Drive Significantly More than Women Despite the Fact there are More Licensed Female Drivers

Although the more than half of all licensed drivers in the United States are women, on average men drive significantly more than women, with the average man driving approximately 13,400 miles per year, which is about 26% more than the average woman, who drives approximately 9800 miles per year. This phenomenon is probably caused by several different factors rather than one discrete explanations.

  1. The Vast Majority of Commercial Drivers Who Have CDL Licenses are Men

One factor likely contributing to men driving greater average distances than women on an annual basis is the significant disparity between the percentage of men and women who work as professional drivers. Although more than half of all drivers in the United States are women, the demographics of the commercial driving industry do not reflect this trend, as only approximately 12% of commercial drivers (those holding CDL licenses) are women.

  1. There is a Lack of Transparency Regarding the Demographics of Uber Drivers, but Available Information Appears to Confirm Uber is Part of the Reason Men Drive More than Women in the United States

Another factor probably contributing to the higher number of average annual miles driven by men is the rideshare transportation industry. Uber is by far the biggest rideshare transportation company, controlling approximately 74% of the total rideshare market in 2024.

Uber designates its drivers as independent contractors, rather than employees,. There has been significant dispute throughout the United States regarding whether this independent contractor classification is consistent with applicable law, and the debate is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. There are many ramifications relating to whether Uber drivers are classified as independent contractors or employees which go well beyond the topics addressed in this blog.

However, the issue most relevant to the topics discussed here is the lack of transparency about who actually drives for Uber due to its drivers being classified as independent contractors. Because Uber does not classify its drivers as employees, the gender distribution and other demographic factors detailing who actually drives for Uber are not included in the information Uber provides about the demographics of its workforce, as the information Uber provides in these disclosures is only limited to data about individuals that Uber classifies as employees. Despite this lack of transparency about its drivers from Uber, some relevant information about these topics has been obtained and verified through other sources. The most recent statistics regarding the number of hours Uber drivers spend on the job show that the average female Uber driver spends 12.82 hours per week driving for Uber, whereas the average male Uber driver spends 17.98 hours driving for Uber.

Interestingly, the statistics also show an hourly wage gap between male and female Uber drivers, with male Uber drivers earning an average of $21.28 per hour, while female Uber drivers earn an average of $20.04 per hour, which is approximately 7 percent less on average. A study analyzing the possible reasons for this wage gap in greater detail put forth three primary factors as the likely causes of this pay disparity between male and female Uber drivers:

  • Men tend to drive faster than women, and this may lead to greater customer satisfaction and resulting higher tips by customers who use Uber and other rideshare apps despite the additional safety risks created by driving at higher speeds.
  • Men tend to gain more experience driving than women driving for Uber. The longer amount of average hours male drivers spend weekly driving for Uber compared to their female counterparts may be creating a feedback loop where the greater number of hours male drivers spend working for Uber compared to female drivers causes male Uber drivers to continue driving longer hours for Uber than their female counterparts because of their comparatively greater levels of experience driving for Uber.
  • Men driving for Uber tend to drive in more lucrative locations, which are also sometimes less safe, than their female counterparts
  1. Lyft Has Been More Open than Uber about the Percentage of Male versus Female Drivers Providing Lyft Rideshare Transportation Services, and the Information Provided by Lyft Confirms that Lyft is Also Part of the Reason Men in the United States Drive More than Women on Average

Like Uber, Lyft also classifies its drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. Unlike Uber, Lyft has been more willing to publicly disclose demographic information about who is actually driving for the company. The information Lyft has publicly disclosed reveals a significant gender gap among its drivers, as Lyft has indicated that just 23% of its drivers are women. Part of these disclosures by Lyft have come as part of a rollout of a . feature that allows Lyft users to choose the gender of the driver they request, which Lyft has implemented to address safety concerns for both drivers and passengers who are female or nonbinary.

The Dangers of Driving: Car Accidents Have Consistently Been One of the Leading Causes of Deaths and Injuries in the United States Since the Mass Adoption of the Automobile in America in the 1920s.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every year car accidents are consistently one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Car accidents are also the second leading cause of injury in the United States.

This is not a new phenomenon. Historically, the risk of injury or death from a car accident has been one of the top dangers faced by people living in the United States since American use of the automobile first became widespread in the 1920s. From the 1920s until the 1970s, total deaths caused by car accidents in the United States generally increased from year to year, except for the time periods of the Great Depression and World War II..

Due to various factors, beginning in the 1970s and generally continuing through today, the overall risk of death from car accidents has decreased significantly. Looking at the United States population as a whole, the risk of death from a car accident today is approximately 30-40% less than it was in the 1970s. However, the fact that car accidents still continue to be one of the leading causes of death and injury in the United States shows that the risks of injury or death from car accidents are still a significant problem today.

In the United States, Men are More Likely than Women to be Involved in a Car Accident and More Men Die From Car Accidents than Women

Statistics tracking car accident deaths and injuries for the United States in recent years show that men are statistically more likely to be involved in a car accident than women and on an annual basis, the overall number of men who die from a car accident is significantly higher than the number of women who die from car accidents. This subject has been researched and studied extensively, and the results have been confirmed by numerous sources, including The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Consumer Affairs, and Forbes,.

Why are Men are More Likely than Women to be Involved in a Car Accident and More Likely to be Killed in a Car Accident than Women?

There does not appear to be a single answer to this question, and the statistical discrepancies between the number of men involved in car accidents compared to women and the higher number of men who die from car accidents compared to women is likely due to several contributing factors.

One of the reasons for this discrepancy is likely the fact that men spend driving approximately 13,400 miles per year, which is about 26% more than the average woman, who drives approximately 9800 miles per year.

Men may also be more likely to get into car accidents than women because most studies show that men are more likely to engage in riskier driving behavior than women. This includes the following behaviors which increase the risks of being involved in a car accident:

To at least some degree, one of the factors that may explain the greater likelihood of men engaging in these risky driving behaviors is confidence. Men are more confident in their driving abilities than women, and men’s relatively greater confidence in their driving skills could be one of the reasons why men tend to engage in these risky driving behaviors at a higher rate than women.

When Comparing Similar Car Accidents, Women Face a Significantly Greater Risk of Being Injured or Killed than Men

As discussed above, in the United states men are involved in a greater number of car crashes than women, and more men are killed and injured in car crashes than women. However, when researchers adjusted to account for these numerical differences and examined the relative likelihood of the risk men and women face of being injured or killed in a similar car crash, they found that women are significantly more likely to be injured or killed in a car crash of similar severity than men. Specifically, research has shown that:

Why Do Women Have a Significantly Higher Risk of Being Injured or Killed Compared to Men From a Similar Car Accident?

Although there are other factors that contribute to this phenomenon, the simple answer that accounts for the majority of this issue is that crash test dummies were designed to resemble the physical features of the “average” man. The biological differences between men and women were simply not taken into account by car manufacturers and the individuals and institutions responsible for testing and implementing vehicle safety features. For decades, crash dummies and vehicle safety features were designed, tested, and implemented solely based on the biological and anatomical structure of men, and the issue of whether the safety and design features of cars would effectively protect women in a car accident were either not considered at all or were not effectively taken into account. Fortunately, this is changing as newer crash dummies are now being designed and used to specifically address the needs of protecting women from injury and death from car accidents. Auto manufacturers are slowly making strides to reduce the risks of injury and death from car accidents for women, and The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has recently found that newer car models are safer for women than older car models due to better testing and improved safety design features seeking to more effectively protect female drivers and passengers from the damages caused by a car accident.

Nevertheless, much work remains to be done in making the roads safer for both men and women and reducing the number of injuries and deaths that car accidents continue to cause year after year to all demographic groups throughout the United States.

If you or a Loved One Was Injured in a Car Accident in Houston, Hire the Right Attorneys for Your Car Accident Injury Claim

Although men and women face different risks and challenges in relation to car accidents, unfortunately car accidents continue to be one of the leading causes of injury and death in the United States and in the Houston area.

If you or a loved one was injured in a car accident in Houston, the attorneys at the Kishinevsky Law Firm PLLC are here to help. Our law firm has helped numerous clients who were injured in a car accident to obtain full and fair compensation from insurance companies trying to wrongfully deny or low-ball their claim. If you or a loved one is was injured in a car accident, contact our office today for a free consultation to discuss how we may be able to help you get the full and fair compensation you deserve for your injury claim.

Posted in Car Accident