Women more responsible

  • 2011-03-09
  • From wire reports

RIGA - Car accidents are mostly caused by young men, aged 18 to 24, with a ‘B’ category driver’s license, who live in Riga and own a powerful or fancy car, such as a BMW, according to the insurance company BTA’s statistics, reports Nozare.lv. The company’s Marketing and Public Relations Department Director Ilva Priedniece said that, statistically, the drivers of BMW 335s are the most likely to cause a car accident.

BTA has also concluded that women tend to cause minor car accidents and contact the insurance companies more often than men. The damage in most of these cases is insignificant - small scratches and dents. Men are usually involved in more serious accidents.
“Even though some people believe that by driving an old car, a person is more likely to crash, the car’s age has no impact on the statistics,” says Priedniece.

Another BTA representative, Aldis Engelis, points out that the driver’s skill and experience is of the greatest importance. Most traffic accidents are caused by young, inexperienced drivers. Young women, on the contrary, tend to drive carefully.
According to the Road Traffic Safety Directorate, 57.7 percent of people involved in car accidents in 2009 were men, 42.3 percent were women. Eighty-seven percent of intoxicated drivers who caused a traffic accident were men.