TEXT OF STORY
SCOTT JAGOW: Guys, I’m afraid you’re gonna have to stop making jokes about female drivers.Today, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University come out with a new study about car accidents. Nancy Marshall Genzer explains.
NANCY MARSHALL GENZER: So, you think you’re a pretty good driver? Now you can prove it.
Plug your age, what you drive and where into the Carnegie Mellon database and it’ll tell you how likely you are to die in an accident.
As you cruise along through the database, you’ll come across some surprises.
An 82-year old woman is more likely to die in an accident than a 16-year-old boy, but that’s because of her frailty, not her driving.
And guys? Researcher David Gerard says forget about those stereotypes about women drivers.
DAVID GERARD: Males don’t believe us. This is really the kicker is that 20,000 men get killed every year behind the wheel compared to 6,700 females.
Gerard says if the database encouraged everyone to drive more safely maybe insurance rates would go down, but insurance companies say not necessarily. They use their own research to set rates.
In Washington, I’m Nancy Marshall Genzer for Marketplace.