Traffic compliance effect of more women behind the wheel: Pride or prejudice?

Driving offences can cause road accidents with serious outcomes and are a topic where differences in attitudes and behaviour can be found between sexes. While men are more prone to taking risks and, statistically, are involved in a greater number of traffic accidents, even today, sex stereotypes per...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Castro Nuño, Mercedes, López Valpuesta, Lourdes
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/152733
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/152733
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2023.102727
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Gender stereotypes
Sex differences
Road safety
Traffic offences
Police enforcement
Driving licence
Compliance
Descripción
Sumario:Driving offences can cause road accidents with serious outcomes and are a topic where differences in attitudes and behaviour can be found between sexes. While men are more prone to taking risks and, statistically, are involved in a greater number of traffic accidents, even today, sex stereotypes persist with women regarded as worse drivers. To explore the truth behind the myth, this study analyses how the increase in the number of females in the driver census in Spain, could impact the effectiveness of traffic law enforcement in terms of traffic offences recorded by the traffic police (including the main violations such as passive safety feature use, speed limits and drunk driving) while considering a set of control variables related to the quality of infrastructure, legal reforms and other socio-economic attributes. The results point to Spanish women paying closer attention to traffic regulations, behaving more carefully, which should be considered in designing specific preventive policies and road safety awareness strategies.