Do Men or Women Get in More Car Accidents?

So do men or women get in more car accidents? Men get into more car accidents than women, and especially more fatal ones. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), men account for roughly 72% of all U.S. traffic fatalities. But the full picture is more complicated. Women face a 73% higher risk of serious injury in a frontal crash of the same severity. Part of the reason is that vehicle safety standards were historically built around male anatomy.

That gap between who crashes more and who gets hurt worse is one of the more surprising findings in traffic safety research. The short answer is "men." But it helps to understand why men crash more, and why the injury numbers tell a different story. That context shows how serious any crash can become, no matter who was driving. Below, we walk through what the most recent data from IIHS, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the CDC actually shows.

Do Men or Women Get in More Car Accidents? The Numbers

The headline statistics are not close. In 2023, motor vehicle crashes killed 29,584 men and 11,229 women in the United States (IIHS Fatality Facts 2023: Males and Females). That works out to a male death rate of 9.7 per 100,000 population, compared with 4.8 for women. That is roughly double. The pattern is not new either. From 1975 through 2023, male crash deaths beat female deaths by more than two-to-one in nearly every single year.

Part of the explanation is simply exposure. Men drive more. The average male driver covers about 16,550 miles per year. The average woman drives roughly 10,142 miles. More time on the road means more chances for a crash. NHTSA data reflects this in raw counts. Men are involved in about 6.1 million accidents per year, compared with about 4.4 million for women.

But mileage is not the whole story. Even after adjusting for miles driven, men are 63% more likely to die in a crash than women. In other words, mile-for-mile, male driving is measurably riskier. That points to behavior, not just exposure.

Why Men Have More Crashes: Risky Driving Behaviors

When researchers look behind the raw numbers, a consistent set of behaviors helps explain the per-mile gap in car accidents between men and women. These show up across the major traffic-safety datasets. They are not assumed.

Speeding. In 2023, speeding was a factor in 20% of fatal crashes involving male drivers, compared with 12% for female drivers (IIHS). The gap is even wider among teenagers. Speeding was a factor in 38% of fatal crashes involving male teen drivers ages 15 to 19, versus 18% for female teens.

Alcohol. Impaired driving shows a similar pattern. In 2023, 33% of fatally injured male drivers had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at or above the legal limit of 0.08. For fatally injured female drivers, the figure was 24% (IIHS). Men are also arrested for driving under the influence at much higher rates across every age group (NHTSA Drunk Driving).

Seatbelt use. Men are less likely to wear seatbelts than women. A seatbelt is one of the single most effective ways to survive a crash. Lower usage makes male-involved collisions more severe.

Drowsy driving. Survey data shows that men are significantly more likely than women to report having fallen asleep at the wheel.

None of this means every man is a dangerous driver or every woman is a cautious one. These are population-level averages. But taken together, speeding, alcohol, lower seatbelt use, and drowsy driving help explain why men get in more car accidents. The gap holds even after you account for the extra miles they drive.

Age and Risk: Teen and Older Drivers

The gender gap in car accidents does not stay constant across a lifetime. It is widest at the two ends of the driving-age spectrum.

Teen drivers. Young men are the highest-risk group on the road. In 2023, crashes killed 1,317 male passenger vehicle occupants ages 16 to 19, compared with 632 female occupants in the same age group (IIHS). Male teens also carry a far higher fatal crash rate per mile driven than the general driving population. The CDC attributes teen crash risk to a mix of inexperience, risk-taking, lower seatbelt use, and nighttime driving (CDC Teen Drivers: Risk Factors).

Young adults. The 20-to-24 age group records the highest fatality rate of any age bracket. That is 17.4 deaths per 100,000 for men and 7.7 for women in 2023 (IIHS). This is the period when the male-female gap, in absolute terms, is at its largest.

Older drivers. At the far end, drivers 85 and older face the highest age-specific death rate of any male group, at 19.9 per 100,000 in 2023. Here the cause is different. It is not risk-taking. It is slower reaction times, medical impairments, and the physical frailty that makes any crash more likely to be fatal.

For families in New York, the teen and young-adult figures are the most practical takeaway. A newly licensed young male driver carries a large share of crash risk. That is one reason insurance premiums and graduated-licensing rules are structured the way they are.

The Surprising Finding: Women Are More Vulnerable in a Crash

Here is where the data flips. Men cause and die in more crashes overall. But when a man and a woman are in collisions of equal severity, the woman is more likely to be seriously hurt.

Research from the University of Virginia found a stark gap. Women are 73% more likely to suffer a serious injury in a frontal crash of the same severity as a man's. Other analyses found women are about 17% more likely to die in a comparable crash than a man of the same age. They also sustain significantly more neck, chest, and pelvis injuries. The reason is anatomical: forces transfer through the body differently.

Why? For decades, the crash-test dummies used to certify vehicle safety were modeled on the average male body. The so-called "female" dummy was often just a scaled-down version of the male model, and it was rarely placed in the driver's seat during testing. In effect, vehicles were built to protect a body type that does not represent half of all drivers.

This is finally changing. In January 2026, NHTSA released a report to Congress affirming the need for biofidelic female crash-test dummies. These dummies actually reflect female anatomy rather than a smaller male stand-in (NHTSA female crash-test dummy report, January 2026). The safety gap is also narrowing in newer cars. For vehicles built between 2015 and 2020, the female fatality disadvantage has dropped to about 2.9%. In older vehicles it was roughly 18% (NHTSA report on newer cars and gender disparities).

Be clear about what this finding does and does not mean. It is not a statement about driving ability. It is about vehicle design and human physiology. A woman injured in a crash caused by another driver may face injuries more severe than the impact alone would suggest. That is a real and documented factor, not a reflection of how she drove.

What This Means If You Were Injured in a New York Car Accident

Statistics about gender are interesting, but they do not decide a personal injury case. In New York, fault turns on negligence, which means a failure to use reasonable care. It does not turn on demographic averages.

New York is a no-fault insurance state. After a crash, your own auto insurance covers your initial medical bills and a portion of lost wages, regardless of who caused the collision. This coverage comes through Personal Injury Protection. To step outside the no-fault system, you must meet the "serious injury" threshold in New York Insurance Law § 5102(d). Only then can you pursue a claim for pain and suffering against an at-fault driver. That threshold includes categories such as significant fractures, permanent loss of use of a body organ or function, and significant limitation of a body function or system. It also covers a medically determined injury that prevents you from performing substantially all of your usual daily activities for at least 90 days out of the 180 days immediately following the accident.

The vehicle-design research above has a practical use here. Crash injuries can be more severe than they first appear, particularly for women, given the design factors discussed. So thorough medical documentation matters. Injuries that seem minor at the scene can prove significant later. The strength of a claim often depends on how completely those injuries are diagnosed and recorded.

The Orlow Firm has handled New York car accident cases for over 40 years, including crashes that produced lasting harm. In one matter, a client rear-ended by a tractor trailer required arthroscopic surgery on both shoulders; the case resolved for $675,000. In another, a taxi driver struck head-on by a truck needed back surgery, with a recovery of $997,997. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. These examples simply show how a single collision, no matter who was driving, can lead to serious, surgery-level injuries.

Related Questions

Are men or women more likely to get a DUI?

Men. In 2023, 33% of fatally injured male drivers had a BAC at or above the 0.08 legal limit, compared with 24% of female drivers. Men are also arrested for impaired driving at higher rates in every age group (IIHS; NHTSA). Alcohol involvement is one of the clearest behavioral differences in the crash data.

Why do men pay more for car insurance?

Insurers price risk based on claims history. The data consistently shows male drivers, especially young men, are involved in more frequent and more severe crashes. Male teen drivers carry a substantially higher fatal crash rate per mile than the general driving population, and that elevated risk is a major reason young men face the steepest premiums. Rates usually converge as drivers age.

Do women cause more minor accidents than men?

This is a common claim, but current IIHS primary data does not support a clear conclusion that women cause more minor or low-speed accidents. Reliable national reporting focuses on serious and fatal crashes, where men are consistently overrepresented. Be cautious with sources that present the "women cause more fender-benders" idea as established fact.

What age group has the most car accidents?

By fatality rate, drivers ages 20 to 24 record the highest of any age bracket, at 17.4 deaths per 100,000 for men and 7.7 for women in 2023 (IIHS). Teen drivers ages 16 to 19 also carry an outsized per-mile risk. Drivers 85 and older have the highest age-specific death rate among men.

This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Every case is different. Contact an attorney to discuss your specific situation.

Sources & Official Resources

Statistics Sources

1. IIHS Fatality Facts 2023: Males and Females
2. IIHS Fatality Facts 2023: Teenagers
3. CDC Teen Drivers: Risk Factors

NHTSA Reports & Resources 4. NHTSA Drunk Driving 5. NHTSA Report: Newer Cars Appear to Significantly Reduce Gender Disparities in Crash Outcomes 6. NHTSA Report to Congress on Female Crash Test Dummies (January 2026)

New York Laws Cited 7. New York Insurance Law § 5102: Definitions (Serious Injury)

Contact The Orlow Firm

If you or someone you love was seriously injured in a car accident in Queens or anywhere in New York City, the gender statistics behind the crash matter far less than what happens next. What matters is documenting your injuries fully, understanding whether they meet New York's serious-injury threshold, and protecting your right to recover.

The Orlow Firm has represented injured New Yorkers for over 40 years. Call (646) 647-3398 for a free consultation. We work on contingency; you pay nothing unless we win.

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