An Empirical Assessment of the Risk Factors for Male and Female Drivers on High-Speed Roadways
This presentation examines gender-specific disparities in crash injury severities by analyzing the differential impact of key contributing factors on injury outcomes for male and female drivers involved in crashes on high-speed roadways. Using mixed logit with heterogeneity in means and variances, which accounts for unobserved heterogeneity in the dataset, this study explores how intrinsic behavioral differences and variations in risk perception manifest across a range of crash-related dimensions, including temporal patterns, vehicle characteristics, roadway classifications, weather conditions, driver demographics and driving factors.
The estimated model unveiled interesting results on the risk factors associated with male and female drivers’ involvement on high-speed roadways in the UK. Male drivers are more likely to suffer severe injuries during off-peak hours and weekend travel, especially when riding motorcycles or driving on rural single-carriageway roads, conditions linked to higher risk and possible overconfidence. In contrast, female drivers face greater injury risks in crashes involving roadside trees and in small-town settings, with moderate injuries more common during adverse weather, suggesting different exposure patterns and context-specific vulnerabilities.
These gender-specific injury severity patterns highlight fundamental differences in how risk is perceived, encountered and managed by male and female drivers. The findings underscore the need for safety strategies that account for behavioral nuance and contextual risk. Specifically, the results support the development of gender-responsive countermeasures, including targeted vehicle safety technologies, context-sensitive roadway design improvements, especially in rural and weather-affected areas, and differentiated driver education and training programs.
Dr Jwan Kamla, Founder and Director of JWAnalytics and Consulting
Dr Jwan Kamla is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of CIHT, Member of ICE, Member of Society of Road Safety Auditors and a recognised leader in road safety with more than 22 years’ experience across civil, highway, traffic, and road safety engineering. She is the Founder and Director of JWAnalytics and Consulting Ltd and the Immediate Past Chair of CIHT East Midlands.
Jwan’s professional journey spans academia, research, the private sector, and the public sector, including serving as Road Safety Manager, where she led countywide road safety strategy, multidisciplinary teams, and major investment programmes. Her experience includes consultancy roles focused on delivering major projects and Safety Governance, including authoring Safety Plans and Safety Reports, Road Safety Audits, Walking, Cycling and Horse‑Riding Assessments, Safety Risk Assessments, deep research work, data analysis and statistical modelling, collision investigation, and transport planning.
She has authored major research studies on motorway design, diverge layouts, and lane provision, contributing to national thinking on complex network design and informing guidance such as the Manual for Streets. Her PhD in Civil Engineering focused on connected vehicle data, harsh‑braking indicators and collision prediction, underpinning her evidence‑led approach to safer design.
Jwan is a CIHT Mentor and Professional Reviewer, a member of the CIHT Engineering Professional Standards Panel, and a reviewer for the Transportation Research Board (TRB). She is a regular speaker at national and international conferences and is widely recognised for her ability to influence safer design, strengthen organisational capability, and drive evidence‑led improvements across the highways and transportation sector.