Member Article

Men riskier on rural roads

Male drivers are more than twice as likely as women to take dangerous risks on rural roads, according to a poll of 1,500 drivers by YouGov for the THINK! road safety campaign.

25% of men believe it is acceptable to speed when they think it safe to do so. 38% of male drivers were quick to blame other road users as the main cause of their near misses or accidents on rural roads. However, Department for Transport statistics show that 36% of car user fatalities on rural roads are single vehicle accidents where no other vehicle or pedestrian were involved.

While male drivers may think that less traffic and fewer pedestrians on rural roads mean they’re safer, the reality is that, per mile, you are three times more likely to die in an accident on a rural road than an urban road. In 2005, nationally, 336 car drivers and passengers were killed on rural roads compared with 339 on urban roads, of which 71% were men. In the North East, 41 car users were killed on rural roads.

Penny Marshall, head of road safety at Government Office for the North East, said: “People have different perceptions about speed on rural roads. Just because there are fewer vehicles around, drivers must not use this as an invitation to travel at inappropriate speeds. Quite often accidents on these roads involve just one vehicle and are caused by drivers travelling too fast for the conditions and losing control of their vehicle. “It is important to remember that speed limits are not target speeds.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .