Male menaces: Young NY men twice as likely to crash cars as female peers, study shows
New York’s young male drivers are driving up the state’s crash numbers, according to newly released study.Male drivers aged 16 to 24 were involved in 58,182 crashes across New York in 2024, compared with 35,494 involving female drivers in the same age group.There were 1,101 fatalities that year, with 253 of them occurring in the Big Apple.The disparity is part of a wider national trend: Men accounted for 72% of passenger-vehicle driver deaths nationwide in 2024, according to federal crash data.The data crunchers at New York law firm Levine and Wiss examined federal crash statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and combined them with those from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety from 2020 through 2024 to arrive at Risk Index Scores, which outlined to the traffic safety trends.They found that the male driver fatality rate was 5.73 per 100,000 people in 2024, compared with 1.51 for women.A cocktail of risky behaviors — including speeding, drinking, distraction and aggressive driving — may help explain the deadly disparity, according to the study.Nationally, 39% of male drivers aged 15 to 20 involved in fatal crashes were speeding, Alcohol also showed a stark divide: 34% of male passenger-vehicle drivers who were killed had blood-alcohol levels of at least 0.08%, compared with 24% of women.
On weekends, the figure for men jumped to 43%.Men also accounted for 73% of distracted drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2024.And when tempers flare, male motorists were more likely to report aggressive driving behavior.A survey cited by the researchers found that 55% of men admitted to road-rage behaviors, compared with 46% of women.The findings come on the heels of New York Gov.
Kathy Hochul’s Speed Week 2 enforcement campaign, which ran from Aug.3 through Aug.
9, and resulted in cops writing a staggering 58,815 tickets, according to the New York State DMV.The law firm’s resarchers also found enormous differences between states....