Mirror, signal, mascara: Half a million crashes a year are blamed on women doing their make-up

Mirror, signal, mascara: Half a million crashes a year are blamed on women doing their make-up

By Ray Massey

Last updated at 8:13 AM on 02nd October 2009

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We're often told how good women are at doing lots of things at once.

But there's one area where their multi-tasking skills apparently let them down - putting on their make-up while driving.

Girls with their eyes on the rearview mirror and one hand clutching the mascara or lipstick are to blame for nearly half a million accidents a year, it was revealed yesterday.

Danger on the roads: Women who apply make-up while driving are causing accidents

Despite the dangers, a fifth of women drivers confess they have touched up their make-up on the move - not so much a case of Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre as Mirror, Signal, Mascara.

Three per cent admit to causing a collision when distracted by applying cosmetics. That equates to around 450,000 crashes a year.

Road safety groups warned that motorists needed to give driving their full concentration.

The poll of 4,000 women drivers by motor insurer Diamond comes a year after the introduction of an offence of causing death by careless driving which carries a prison sentence of up to two years.

Previously, careless driving offences - such as applying makeup, eating and map-reading at the wheel - were punishable only by a fine. Women aged between 17 and 21 were found to be the most likely to put beauty before safety and most liable to crash as a result.

More than a quarter (27 per cent) confessed to putting on make-up and nine per cent of those aged 18 or younger have had an accident - three times the average for women drivers.

That compares with just 6 per cent of women aged 56 or older - who are least likely to do it - and just half a per cent in that age group who have crashed while doing their make-up.

Diamond managing director Sian Lewis said it was worrying that so many women put themselves and other road users at risk.

'We all have busy lives but applying your make-up when you're driving means your full attention is not on the road ahead,' she said.

'Is your mascara more important than yours and other road users' safety? Even if you're lucky enough to arrive at your destination safely, you could be charged with careless driving if spotted by the police. Women are generally great at doing more than one thing at once but this is definitely one area where multitasking should not be practised.'

In March 2006, 22-year-old part-time model Donna Maddock, of Mold, North Wales, was fined £200 with six penalty points for careless driving for applying make-up at the wheel of her Vauxhall Astra while doing 32mph on the A490 near Abersoch.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents appealed for women to avoid the potentially deadly distraction.

Spokesman Kevin Clinton said: 'Driving requires concentration and even a momentary lapse could turn a near-miss into a serious or even fatal accident. Commonsense says apply make-up before or after driving.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1217563/Mirror-signal-mascara-Half-million-crashes-year-blamed-women-doing-make-up.html#ixzz0SleSqnKG