Men are More Vulnerable When Cars Brake Down

Apparently, there is at least one thing that makes men more fragile than women, and that is when their cars have broken down by the roadside. A new study released by car care specialist Comma showed that male motorists are almost three times more likely to be killed or injured on the hard shoulder than women.

The results also showed that wearing high-visibility vests can increase the distance at which other road users can spot stranded drivers by up to 400 percent. Therefore, Comma will be giving away 150,000 free vests on 5-liter packs of its Performance Motor Oil range as part of its ‘Safe and Seen’ campaign.

“Once you’re outside of your car in the dark, you’re effectively invisible,” said Comma’s Mike Bewsey. “The male tendency is to get under the bonnet and try to fix the problem but, if you can’t be seen, you’re asking for trouble.”

According to Philip Hodson of the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy, the common belief that men are more stubborn and self-deluded about their own abilities is to blame for the fact that so many more male motorists are hurt on the hard shoulder.

“Men tend to be ego-driven, meaning that they prefer to be seen as the ‘rescuer’ in situations like a car breakdown. They will, more often than not, tend to believe that they can fix the problem even if, in reality, they couldn’t even begin to comprehend the car’s technology,” he said.

“Women, on the other hand, are more realistic – about their own technical competence, the danger involved in the situation or even just that they don’t want to get their hands dirty. So they are naturally more inclined to follow the safety rules.”