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The number of women caught committing the most dangerous road traffic offences including speeding and drink driving has risen sharply in recent years.

While men represent the greatest danger, women are increasingly being caught and prosecuted for a range of other risky behaviours.

These include careless driving, while the numbers being caught driving with no licence or insurance is on the rise.

An analysis of recorded crime statistics from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) between 2003 and 2012 reveals:

• One in five motorists caught speeding in 2012 were women, compared with one in seven a decade ago.

• Some 15pc of all drivers caught drink driving are women, compared with 10pc in 2003.

• One in eight people convicted of dangerous/careless driving and motorway offences are women. This compares with one in 10 a decade ago.

• In 2003, just over 18pc of motorists caught driving with no licence were female. This has risen to almost 29pc.

• There has also been a rise in numbers caught with no insurance - 13.5pc of all offenders were women in 2003, compared with 20pc a decade later.

Women make up just under half of all driving licence holders. A decade ago, the numbers were broadly similar.

Garda sources said that more women drivers are covering greater distances on the roads.

"There is evidence that when there's more than one person in the car, it tends to result in riskier behaviour. It's a trend and there's a steady growth to it, but it's hard to give a definitive reason why."

Dr Michael Gormley, expert in driver behaviour at the School of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin, said the latest trends were a concern.

"The key things are speeding and drink driving, which are the most dangerous behaviours on the road. Men, by far, are the biggest issue and these statistics still support that," he said.

But he said that pinpointing a reason for the increase in women speeding and drink driving was difficult.

Ladette culture

"You could explain it by a growing ladette culture, and equality among the sexes can lead to equality in terms of criminal behaviour, but you would have to explain that across all crimes.

"It may be, to a certain extent, that the men are taking on the message (about safer driving) and the women are not."

He also said the implications of speeding and drink driving were different among the sexes. Men tended to drive faster, meaning a crash could have more severe consequences.

"One interesting analysis I did a year ago was looking at young men and young women drivers. They had around the same number of collisions, but the implications were greater for men because more were killed."

The RSA said that gardai were enforcing the law, and there were "serious consequences" for those caught.

"We need to remember the basics. One in five people killed on the roads in the last two years were not wearing a safety belt."

Irish Independent