Summer's Stupidest Driving Hazard: Short Skirts

A British car insurance company says male drivers have far more accidents in the summer than women do. The (alleged) reason: dudes are distracted by ladies’ short skirts.

The Telegraph reports that according to numbers released by car insurance company Sheilas’ Wheels, men made 16.4% more claims last summer than in other seasons. And while 25% of men said they’d had an accident or near-accident in the summer over the last five years, only 17% of women said the same. These stats don’t really seem all that impressive to me, but a rep for Sheilas’ says, “In the summer […] men are significantly more likely than women to claim during the summer months – often as a result of wandering eyes.” The rep offers no data to back up this last part, but, bizarrely, behavioral psychologist Donna Dawson concurs:

Men are more visually orientated and so distractions such as an attractive woman walking down the street can quickly take their attention away from driving and the job in hand.

Wait, is she talking about handjobs? Seriously though, I highly doubt that men gawking at scantily clad women is a significant cause of road accidents. As it turns out (and that you could maybe tell by the name) Sheilas’ Wheels markets its insurance specifically to women — maybe they’re trying to score points with ladies by taking potshots at men. If that’s the case, it’s not working on us — especially because the real male driving risk is obviously masturbation.