ARE FEMALE DRIVERS SAFER - AN APPLICATION OF THE DECOMPOSITION METHOD

Using the decomposition method and national data for the year 1990, we examined gender and age differences in involvement rates in fatal mot or vehicle crashes. The fatal crash involvement rate per driver is exp ressed as a multiplicative function of the crash fatality rate (define d as the proportion of fatal crashes involved among all crashes involv ed), crash incidence density (that is, number of crashes per million p erson-miles), and exposure prevalence (that is, annual average miles d riven per driver). The fatal crash involvement rate per 10,000 drivers for men was three times that for women (5.3 vs 1.7) and was highest a mong teenagers. Of the male-female discrepancy in the fatal crash invo lvement rates, 51% was attributable to the difference between sexes in crash fatality rates, 41% to the difference in exposure prevalence, a nd 8% to the difference in crash incidence density. Age-related variat ions in the fatal crash involvement rates resulted primarily from the differences in crash incidence density. The results indicate that, des pite having lower fatal crash involvement rates, female drivers do not seem to be safer than their male counterparts when exposure is consid ered. The decomposition method is valuable as both a conceptual framew ork and an exploratory tool for understanding the contributing factors related to cause-specific injury mortality and the differences in dea th rates among populations.