Women at the wheel: Clearly better than their reputation

Speeding, inattention or drunk driving are some of the most dangerous behaviors in road traffic and not infrequently lead to traffic accidents in Switzerland.

In serious cases, such offenses are punishable by, among other things, revocation of the driver's license. Contrary to common stereotypes, however, women cause accidents much less frequently than men, according to statistics from Admas and data from Astra.

Women have fewer accidents than men
Female drivers on Swiss roads were responsible for a quarter of all traffic accidents in 2019, in 13,915 of the 53,528 registered cases. Men were responsible for 34,665 traffic accidents in the same year. In 4948 cases in 2019, the main driver could not be identified.

The trend at national level is reflected in all Swiss cantons.

Men cause more serious traffic accidents
Men also statistically cause the more serious traffic accidents and have recorded four times more license revocations than women in recent years. In 2019, 79,921 driver's licenses were confiscated. Men were affected in 80.63 percent cases and women in 19.37 percent.

Among the 19.37 percent, the majority of women were between 25 and 29 years old (1886), followed by those between 20 and 24 years old (1737) and those between 30 and 34 years old (1575).

Among men, 25- to 29-year-olds (8331), 20- to 24-year-olds (8133), and 30- to 34-year-olds (7285) also make up the three age groups in which the most driver's licenses were revoked.

Fewer deportations for under-20s
Among women, those under 20 (426), 65-69 (479), and 70-74 (550) were the least affected by deportations, while among men, 70-74 (1621) had the fewest deportations, followed by 65-69 (1784) and 60-64 (2983).

tcs.ch