French must henceforth “drive like a woman”

Stereotype

A French road injury advocacy group has launched a campaign that addresses a persistent stereotype: the idea that men would be better drivers than women. According to the association Victimes & Citoyens, the data clearly shows that women are actually better behind the wheel than men.

Figures don’t lie

Indeed, data from the French Road Safety Association show that men are responsible for as many as 84 percent of fatal road accidents. This is confirmed by a report from the French government: in 2022, 3,550 people lost their lives on French roads and overseas. It also shows that 93 percent of drunk drivers in crashes are men and women are eight times less likely to be involved in a fatal traffic accident than men. In the Netherlands, the numbers are also clear: nearly three-quarters of traffic fatalities in our country are men.

Equal mileage

The fact that women are less likely to be involved in accidents is not because they are not on the road much. According to the figures, women in France make almost as many kilometers as men each year: 11,200 km versus 12,500 km. Despite the fact that women make up 52.5% of the population aged 18 and older, only 42% of them are the main drivers of cars.

Chatbot

The French campaign is also active on X – formerly known as Twitter. Here, a chatbot is deployed that confronts every tweet with the hashtag #femmeauvolant (#femmeauvolant) with the figures mentioned above. In addition, the tweets include a QR code that sends you to the association’s website, where Twitter users are presented with all the figures and sources once again.