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Mirror, signal, mascara: Half a million crashes a year are blamed on women doing their make-up

By Ray Massey
Last updated at 8:13 AM on 02nd October 2009

We're often told how good women are at doing lots of things at once.
But there's one area where their multi-tasking skills apparently let them down - putting on their make-up while driving.
Girls with their eyes on the rearview mirror and one hand clutching the mascara or lipstick are to blame for nearly half a million accidents a year, it was revealed yesterday.
A woman putting on make-up while driving
Danger on the roads: Women who apply make-up while driving are causing accidents
Despite the dangers, a fifth of women drivers confess they have touched up their make-up on the move - not so much a case of Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre as Mirror, Signal, Mascara.

Three per cent admit to causing a collision when distracted by applying cosmetics. That equates to around 450,000 crashes a year.
Road safety groups warned that motorists needed to give driving their full concentration.
The poll of 4,000 women drivers by motor insurer Diamond comes a year after the introduction of an offence of causing death by careless driving which carries a prison sentence of up to two years.
Previously, careless driving offences - such as applying makeup, eating and map-reading at the wheel - were punishable only by a fine. Women aged between 17 and 21 were found to be the most likely to put beauty before safety and most liable to crash as a result.
More than a quarter (27 per cent) confessed to putting on make-up and nine per cent of those aged 18 or younger have had an accident - three times the average for women drivers.

That compares with just 6 per cent of women aged 56 or older - who are least likely to do it - and just half a per cent in that age group who have crashed while doing their make-up.
Diamond managing director Sian Lewis said it was worrying that so many women put themselves and other road users at risk.

'We all have busy lives but applying your make-up when you're driving means your full attention is not on the road ahead,' she said.
'Is your mascara more important than yours and other road users' safety? Even if you're lucky enough to arrive at your destination safely, you could be charged with careless driving if spotted by the police. Women are generally great at doing more than one thing at once but this is definitely one area where multitasking should not be practised.'
In March 2006, 22-year-old part-time model Donna Maddock, of Mold, North Wales, was fined £200 with six penalty points for careless driving for applying make-up at the wheel of her Vauxhall Astra while doing 32mph on the A490 near Abersoch.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents appealed for women to avoid the potentially deadly distraction.
Spokesman Kevin Clinton said: 'Driving requires concentration and even a momentary lapse could turn a near-miss into a serious or even fatal accident. Commonsense says apply make-up before or after driving.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0SmIqswKG

WOMEN company car drivers cause more accidents than male counterparts, according to a survey of 25,000 fleet vehicle insurance claims over 12 months by VELO Insurance Services. But men cause more damage than women when they do crash
The survey covered accidents with repair costs totalling £14 million and found the average cost of an accident involving a male driver was £564, while the equivalent for women was £545.
Women drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents with another vehicle where they are at fault - 26% of all accidents involving women against 20.6% involving men - but the average cost at £734 for women to £831 for men suggests accidents involving women are less severe. Men are more likely to have at-fault accidents such as losing control and leaving the road - 2.05% of all accidents involving male drivers against 1.39% involving women drivers - and the cost is also likely to be higher at £2,012 average cost against £1,811 for women.
VELO director of insurance Tina Neale said: 'Men and women do have different insurance claims. 'Many companies apply risk management techniques to identify drivers who need driver training to reduce their incident rates and costs. This report shows further examination of claims history may be needed to specify the training required. Companies using and offering driver training should consider developing different courses for men and women, as each appear to have different driving habits leading to different types of accident.'t

Diamond Press Office
Angelic women drivers put men to shame
New research suggests women may be better drivers than men after all. It reveals that men are more than one and a half times as likely as women to have a motoring conviction, with male teenagers over five times as likely as female teenagers to have one.
Women's car insurance specialist Diamond looked at the motoring records of over one million motorists to see which convictions are the most common and if there is a difference between the sexes. Whilst speeding is by far the most common conviction for both men and women, only 11% of women have been caught speeding compared with 18% of men.

Diamond's managing director, Sian Lewis, said: "I'm not really surprised more men are caught speeding than women. Male drivers tend to be more aggressive than women, and are more likely to be involved in a serious accident."
Diamond's research also reveals there are differences between the sexes when it comes to breaking other laws:

* Men are six times more likely than women to be convicted for drink/drug driving offences.
* Men are three times more likely than women to be convicted of careless driving.
* Men are three times more likely than women to commit a motorway offence.
* Men are twice as likely as women to drive without insurance.

Diamond also looked at the percentage of motorists in different age groups that have received a motoring conviction. Men in the 20-25 age group are the most likely to have a conviction with women in the 17-19 age group the least likely.
Sian Lewis, continued, "This research proves that women are safer drivers than men; they have less convictions than men and make smaller, hence less serious claims. Almost a quarter of 20-39 year old men have a conviction which really is quite a shocking statistic."
Issue date: 18-10-06

# On average, women make more trips than men, but men travel much further per year - but the gap in distance travelled is narrowing as travel patterns for men and women change.
# Since 1996 the average distance travelled as a car driver has fallen by around 10% among men but has increased by over 20% among women.
# Just under half of primary school children walked to school in 2008, with a further 43% being driven.
# For secondary school children, two fifths of pupils travelled on foot, while a fifth travelled by car and a further fifth by bus.

Women drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents with another vehicle where they are at fault - 26% of all accidents involving women against 20.6% involving men

they appear happy enough to just plod along behind the 40 mph everywhere driver