Something Deadly Comes This Way

Automotive Industries, May, 1999

Safety experts say men are 70% more likely to be driving in a fatal crash. Now a study in New York City by a group called Right of Way claims on a per-miles-driven basis, male drivers are involved in pedestrian fatalities three times more often than female drivers. In crashes that kill bicyclists, they're involved roughly 10 times more often than women.

"Bicyclist fatalities are not just a product of cyclists' recklessness or carelessness, but a male driver resentment -- if not rage," says study author Charles Komanoff. "Men want the bicyclists to get out of their way." Julie Rochman of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety adds, "males are over-represented in fatal crashes -- period." Another reason: The National Motorist Assn. says driver inattention is the single most important factor in traffic accidents in the U.S.