DUBAI // Men may joke about women being poor drivers, but figures from the police traffic department have turned the tables.

Men were responsible for almost 87 per cent of all traffic accidents in the first six months of this year, the department says.

In that time, accidents caused by women killed eight people and injured 139, six of them seriously.

But accidents for which men were responsible killed 74 and injured 941 – 76 seriously.

And those numbers are not just a blip.

Last year, women caused only 138 accidents in Dubai, while men were responsible for 1,330.

Female drivers killed five people and injured 267, but men killed 116 and injured 2,045.

The statistics appeared to satisfy many women drivers.

“Give me a copy, I want to show them to my husband as I scream ‘In your face’,” said Norah Khalid.

Mrs Khalid said her husband often accused her of being a poor driver.

“Facts say otherwise, though,” she said.

“I have never been in an accident, thank God, but he had been through a few, God protect him.”

Other women said it might be best to not let the men know.

“I feel that if a woman tells a man she is a better driver, it’s as if she degrades his masculinity,” said Ayah Hussain. “Men always make it a fight between the sexes over who is a better driver.”

The statistics also paint a picture of the types of accident.

Motorists crashed into objects including walls, radars, trees, animals, poles, railings, signboards, pavements, rubbish bins and electricity generators.

The most common type of accident involved two vehicles colliding. In the first six months of this year there have been 870 such crashes.

There were 1,836 for all of last year and 1,736 in 2011.

salamir@thenational.ae