Jean-Luc Boujon 06h10, February 08, 2023

Men at the wheel, dead at the turn?

The 2022 road safety report reveals that 4 out of 5 people who die on the road are men.

The latter are also 84% to be responsible for fatal accidents... To raise awareness among motorists, the new road safety campaign calls for leaving virility on the low side.

Damien likes to drive in the streets of Lyon while revving the engine of his Golf 8 GTI Sport, 300 horsepower under the hood.

If he declares himself cautious, the young man of 23 years admits that he sometimes takes risks behind the wheel… “On the highway, I admit that I took high speeds. The maximum that I did, it's 270 km/h. I peak, at the toll exit, in less than a minute. And then, after we stop everything, we go back to 130 km/h. It's just to get a little love."

A 2022 report drawn up by road safety reveals that 4 out of 5 people who died on the road are men.

How to explain these figures?

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Unlike women, men would see the car as a narcissistic object, a symbol of virility, power or success.

What Sadi admits, driving his 300 horsepower Lexus SUV.

This is passed on to the younger generations, outbids this father of a family at the microphone of Europe 1: "I have passed the age of showing off. But maybe for my son when he takes the car from me, to show off in front of his friends. It's a little masculine, in general. But it's not mean. It's just to say that we have a nice car, that's all. It shows your 'easy' side, and that you have successful in life."

A majority of men among young drivers 

A cliché which therefore has a hard skin and which must be deconstructed urgently considers road safety.

Indeed, it is urgent to save lives on the road.

And for good reason, as the figures show: men are 84% responsible for fatal accidents.

In its new advertising spot, road safety calls on male motorists to be vigilant: "The man you want to be but be a living man."

"Road safety calls on men to realize that by car, motorbike, bicycle and even on foot, for equivalent kilometers traveled, they kill themselves considerably more than women", can we read on the site.

Road safety deconstructs preconceived ideas about men who hold alcohol better than women.

"Don't worry, two drinks? It doesn't change my behavior," quotes the organization.

But statistics prove otherwise.

In fact, 88% of young drivers killed are men and 93% of drunk drivers involved in an accident are men.