Men behaving badly
There’s a gender divide when it comes to dangerous driving
MEN are far more likely than women to drive unsafely and illegally, whether that’s after drinking alcohol, while under the influence of drugs, or while using a mobile phone.
New figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales show that 5.4% of people admitted to drink driving at least once in 2018/19.
That rises to 6.3% when you exclude people who don’t drink at all.
The survey also revealed that 0.5% of people admitted to driving while under the influence of illegal drugs last year - rising to 7.8% of people who had actually taken drugs in that time.
Meanwhile, 42.1% of people said that they had used a mobile phone while driving, or while stationary in traffic.
However, there is a huge gender disparity when it comes to this kind of unsafe driving.
While 7.9% of all men who drink admitted to driving while under the influence of alcohol, just 4.5% of women who drink did.
Similarly, 9.4% of male drug users admitted to drug driving, compared to 4.4% of their female peers.
And while 45.1% of men said they had used a phone while driving, that fell to 38.8% of women.
There is also a difference when it comes to age, with younger people generally more likely to drive unsafely - although those aged 16-19 are not the worst culprits.
Those aged 20-24 are the most likely to drink drive, and those aged 25-29 are the most likely to drug drive and drive while using a mobile phone.
The good news is that the long term trend has seen these figures decline, and that’s reflected in the number of accidents seen on our roads.
While there are no official figures on the number of accidents caused by drug driving or the use of mobile phones, drink drive accidents have plummeted in the last few decades.
There were an estimated 5,890 drink drive accidents in Great Britain in 2018 - up from 5,700 in 2017, but down from 19,470 in 1979.
However, that still resulted in 240 people being killed, while 1,370 people were seriously injured and 7,080 were slightly injured.
The limit for drink driving is 80 mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in England and Wales, and 50 mg per 100ml in Scotland.