Source: The Mercury, Tuesday, 12 September, 1995,
p.3 Source: The Mercury, Tuesday, 12 September, 1995,
p.3
MALE drivers cause twice as many accidents as female drivers, a survey has found. And the bigger the car's engine, the greater the chance of accidents. Contrary to popular belief, most car accidents occur within five kilometres of home, not while people are holidaying. The NRMA report Crashes: Costs and Causes, released in Sydney yesterday, examined infor- mation received from over 4000 claims made to the insurer in New South Wales during 1994, costing a total of $1 billion in repair costs. Acting general manager Greg Anderson said the survey results banished some myths. The peak time for accidents was 3pm on weekdays and 4 per cent of accident insurance claims related to crashes in or near the claimant's driveway. The report also found men were twice as likely to cause an accident as women. This could be partly explained by the fact that men were more likely to be behind the wheel of a car and to drive further than women, Mr Anderson said. "What we do know is that there is a direct correlation between engine size and the likelihood of being involved in a collision," he said. "The claim frequency of vehicles with engines in excess of 5 litres is twice as high as those with smaller engine capacities." Sports cars and hatchbacks were found to be at highest risk. AAP
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