You’ll often hear that men are more likely to get arrested on DWI charges or more likely to be involved in drunk driving accidents. And this is true. It’s not that men are the only ones involved, by any means, but the statistics do consistently point to them as the main individuals involved in these situations.
But why is this? It’s not as if the police are choosing to arrest men more often on purpose. They don’t even know the gender of the driver before many traffic stops, which happen before the police determine that that driver is impaired. So what is it that drives this statistical anomaly?
Men tend to drink more
To some degree, it’s just a perfect storm. It starts with the fact that men drink more often than women. When adults were surveyed and asked if they had had a drink in the last 30 days, the majority of men said they had 58%. Just under half of women said they had, at 49%. When asked about binge drinking, only 13% of women said they would do this, compared to 21% of men.
But it’s a perfect storm because men also tend to drive more. They cover more miles annually, they get involved in more car accidents and they just generally face more exposure to traffic conditions. When you have a group of individuals that is more likely to be intoxicated and more likely to be behind the wheel, it is simply statistically more likely that they will be arrested for drunk driving.
Such an arrest can really change the course of a person’s life and may be very expensive. Those who are facing charges need to know about their legal options.