Older Females, Drivers Under 20 Responsible for Most Unintended Acceleration Accidents
New NHTSA study finds females are responsible for almost two-thirds of such accidents.
According to the article, "nearly two-thirds of the drivers involved in accidents involving the misuse of the gas pedal are female." Also notable: most of those accidents occur in parking lots.
The study cites several possible factors for the "overrepresentation" (the word used in the finding document) of females in unintended-acceleration accidents, including that cars are not ideally laid out for those of shorter stature: "possible explanations might include greater exposure by women where these crashes occur most often (parking lots); a poorer 'fit' in their cars due to shorter stature, which may increase the likelihood of a pedal application error; or a disproportionately high rate of one or more functional deficits that contribute to pedal errors, such as neuropathy.”
As to the "functional deficits," the authors suggest that the two age groups most responsible for such accidents -- those over 76 years of age, followed by those under 20 -- may have issues with "executive functioning" within the brain, which is responsible for decisions such as which pedal to depress; separate studies find that the area of the brain responsible for executive functioning does not fully form until around age 25, and is likely to deteriorate in the elderly.
The NHTSA study analyzed 2,400 unintended-acceleration incidents in North Carolina, plus 900 news reports of such accidents.
[Source: Detroit Bureau via Autoblog.]
According to the article, "nearly two-thirds of the drivers involved in accidents involving the misuse of the gas pedal are female." Also notable: most of those accidents occur in parking lots.
Perhaps it's time for insurance companies to start looking at female drivers being a risk on the road compared to male drivers.
This clearly shows that there should be better laws in place to retest drivers as they age and to not allow young drivers such easy access to driver's licenses. The testing needs to be more in depth and include more safety practices. Imagine how many deaths could be prevented with just a little more effort.
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