Car Insurance -
Women Driver More Likely to Suffer Whiplash Injuries
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Women drivers often sit closer to the steering wheel. This puts them at a greater risk of suffering whiplash injuries more than their male counterparts in the even of an accident, researchers in Sweden have found.
According to the study by the team at Umea University, when their car is hit from behind they are three times more likely to sustain whiplash injuries then men.
The result was arrived at after the researchers had considered insurance data on more than 400 injuries whiplash claimed for during the 1990s.
In addition they also studied how more than 200 men and women adjusted their car seats and then how they sat as they drove and as they were stationary.
The researchers further compared the results from human test with those from tests of a commonly used crash-test dummy, the BioRID, which is the same size as the average man or a large woman.
In conclusion they said women’s increased risk was partly because they are inclined to sit higher and closer to the steering wheel and to have the seat back more upright.
Sitting in the driver’s seat involve twice the risk for both women and men drivers compared to the front passenger seat.
The researcher found also, after examining the data from dummy testing that it differed in seat adjustments used and positioning.
“Current crash dummies used to develop vehicle seats and neck supports, for instance, are geared to men of normal size, but not to women,” they said, adding that it was particularly so in respect of height.
Insurers have always believed that women drivers are of lower car insurance risks than men and they are believed be less likely to make claims than men.
Studies have also backed the claim that female motorists more careful behind the wheel than males. One of such was the 2005 finding that they are helped in this regard – to be driver safer – by the hormone oestrogen.
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