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Men and women may continue to argue about which are the best drivers,
but one area where there is a clear gulf between the sexes is the
type of accidents they have in their cars.
Research by leading car insurer elephant.co.uk has found
that there are certain types of accident women are more likely to
be involved in. The list is headed by accidents in car parks, on
roundabouts and at traffic lights.
On the other hand male motorists are more likely than female ones
to have a head on collision, hit a tree, wall or lamppost.
elephant.co.uk studied data from 125,000 accidents last
year and found a marked difference between the types of accidents
men and women have. Managing director at the company, Tanzie Oliver,
said: "We hold a vast amount of data on accidents and wanted
to see if there was a difference between the sexes. It soon became
clear that there was; women tend to be in more accidents at slower
speeds, where cars are close together, while men have more high-speed
accidents where it is easy to lose control.
"Our research suggests the way men and women drive is different.
Possibly men drive faster and more aggressively than women, while
women are more easily distracted than men behind the wheel of car."
It isn't just accidents where men and women motorists differ. There
are differences when it come to other claims too; overall women
are more likely to have their car broken into and have something
inside stolen. However men are more likely to have their car stolen
outright.
Men's cars are also more likely to catch fire than women's and
are more likely to be damaged by flood. Tanzie Oliver, commented:
"It's very strange that men's cars are more likely to catch
fire than women's. I can't explain why that would happen. But one
reason why women are more likely than men to have their car broken
into, is that maybe they are more likely to leave expensive items
on show than men."
Types of claims more common among women:
- Attempted theft
- Theft from the car
- Collision in a car park
- Collision on a roundabout
- Collision at a traffic light
- Hitting a cyclist or motorcyclist
- Hitting another car in the rear
- Hitting a parked car
- Pulling out in front of another car from a side road
Types of claims more common among men:
- Theft of car and car not recovered
- Car caught fire
- Flood damage
- Head on collision
- Changing lanes and hitting another car
- Hitting an animal
- Hitting a tree, wall or lamp post
- Driving down an embankment
- Being hit by another driver in the rear
Issue date: 20-07-04
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