HLike at the wheel, dead at the turn? Nearly four out of five people killed on French roads in 2022 were men, according to the annual road safety report. Men also represent 75% of the seriously injured. They are believed to be responsible for 84% of fatal crashes in 2021. That same year, 93% of drink-driving drivers involved in crashes were male.
We can dig into all the statistics of Road Safety, the finding is always the same. “This overrepresentation of men among the victims is found in all modes of travel”, notes Florence Guillaume, interministerial delegate for road safety. Wednesday, February 8, she launched a television communication campaign to alert on the subject. But how to explain such an imbalance between men and women?
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The car, narcissistic object
“The woman has never placed her narcissism in the car, it’s just a tool for getting around,” says Jean-Marc Bailet, doctor in driver psychology and author of Men drive… women drive!, for whom the explanation lies partly in the relationship of men with their self. Sociologist Cyrille Dupré-Gazave, who conducted a study on masculinity at the wheel for Road Safety, agrees: “Masculinity discovers the car from an early age, as a toy, and therefore very early on acquires the status of an object. identity. »
The road is seen as the playground of man, who “drives” cars since childhood. The problem is that he thinks he knows his vehicle so well and has a natural ability to drive that he tends to be overconfident behind the wheel. “He thinks he’s in control of his car, and therefore even in the event of a last-minute incident, he will necessarily know how to react and avoid an accident,” explains Jean-Marc Bailet. It pushes him to take risks. »
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This behavior stems directly from the gendered social construction of men and women, believe the two researchers. Valorization of risk-taking, need to measure oneself against others, refusal to let oneself be stepped on, eruptive behavior when one feels attacked… “The stereotypes of masculinity stand out at the wheel and do not encourage caution”, believes Cyrille Dupre-Gazave.
Deflate egos
Beyond this road safety awareness campaign, what can be done to deflate male egos once installed behind the wheel? The task is not easy, recognizes the sociologist, because, for the man, to recognize that there is a problem – and therefore, that he would not be perfect pilot or, worse, would not always have control of his vehicle – amounts to attacking a part of his masculinity. “In the study, when we present the mortality figures, if no one disputes them, they tend to explain it by the fact that masculinity leads to more complicated conditions. »
And this sixty-something man illustrates his point, evoking the “women who will drive when the weather is nice on Sunday”. The man would be more victim of the road, because he drives further, longer, when there is more traffic… This is to forget that the majority of road accidents take place less than 15 kilometers from home. You don’t need a long drive to kill yourself.
Previously commander of the gendarmerie, Jean-Marc Bailet observed on a daily basis this difficulty for men to question themselves. “When we did checks, the men always had a good excuse, the child in the hospital or the plane to catch…” But rarely did they admit having made a mistake. And Florence Guillaume questions these stereotypes of masculinity: “Isn’t true courage precisely knowing how to resist social pressure when the safety of everyone, and of oneself, is at stake? This figure is not fatal, it is up to you to be responsible and not to fall into these traps. »