Citation

Visby RH, Lundholt K. Transp. Res. Rec. 2018; 2672(3): 166-174.

Affiliation

Department of Traffic Safety and Cycling, The Danish Road Directorate, Copenhagen K, Denmark Corresponding Author: Address correspondence to Rie Hultqvist Visby: rhv@vd.dk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0361198118795005

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A study based on the Danish Road Directorates accident statistics shows that there are different gender patterns in how we behave in traffic and our involvement in traffic accidents. Overall men drive more by car and take longer trips. Women take more trips, but they are shorter, and travel more by bicycle or walking. Although men and women spend the same amount of time in traffic, twice as many men as women are involved in traffic accidents. Men constitute 62% of all persons killed and injured in road accidents, and are involved in 66% of the accidents. Not only gender, but education, income and age are also important factors in the accident patterns of men and women in Denmark. People with primary/lower secondary school as the highest education level are over represented in accident statistics in proportion to other educational groups. Young people aged 18-24 constitute about 20% (the largest group) of persons killed and injured in traffic accidents, although they only constitute approximately 8% of the population. In this group, there are about twice as many men killed or injured as women. The overall pattern is that, the older you become, the higher educated you are and the higher income you have--the smaller is your risk of involvement in accidents in Denmark. This knowledge is of importance when planning communication strategies with different segments of the population and when reaching out to young people in schools, who are at the highest risk of getting killed or injured in accidents.

Language: en