I often hear many interesting statistics about women living in a ‘deadly world built for men’.
Often at the centre of this conversation is a widely quoted fact that claims women are 73% more likely to be seriously injured in a car crash, as safety features such as airbags and seatbelts, were developed for male drivers and tested on male crash test dummies.
It’s a shocking example of how we can forget about women’s safety - but this fact is only partly correct.
Sadly, women are more likely to be injured or killed in car crashes.
Not because of male-centric safety features, but because women often drive smaller and lighter cars to men, and experience different types of crashes too.
Now the IIHS, who conduct these crash tests and whose data originally gave us the 73% claim, have returned to the conversation to say exactly this.
The point is - just because women and men may experience different outcomes, does not mean it is caused my systemic sexism.
And perpetuating baseless claims like this, is irresponsible and actually distracts from the true causes of women being seriously injured behind the wheel.
So no more blaming that plastic yellow human in those slow motion videos.
Let’s talk about how we can actually help make women safer behind the wheel.
IIHS Study, 2021: https://tinyurl.com/2p99zdfb