Abbotsford Police are pleading with male drivers to put down their phones, stop drinking and driving and slow down.

Police say despite an almost equal number of male and female drivers on the road in Abbotsford (51 per cent versus 48 per cent), male drivers are overrepresented when it comes to violation statistics.

Abbotsford Police say 67 per cent of drivers who are ticketed for distracted driving are men. Impaired driving statistics are even more skewed towards men. 84 per cent of all tickets for impaired driving are issued to men.

Of drivers who are ticketed for speeding, 66 per cent are men and 33 per cent are women. Police say impaired driving, distracted driving and speeding are the top three causes of injury and death on our roads.

Cst. Ian MacDonald of the Abbotsford Police says that it was examining speeding tickets issued in school zones that really drove the point home.

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MacDonald says despite the fact it’s usually female drivers dropping off their kids at school, 56 per cent of all speeding tickets issued in Abbotsford school zones are issued to men.

“It’s at that point that we realized, it’s doesn’t matter what age group we are talking about, men still outpace women — in a bad way — at least two-to-one.”

Police say men are much more likely to be ticketed than women, no matter what their age. Men in their 30s and men in their 70s outpace their female counterparts.

“Research shows us that men are more likely to engage in risky behaviour, period. Part of it may be the genetic make-up of men, part of it may be peer pressure,” says MacDonald.

“Men have more pressure placed on them to get their driver’s licenses, and there’s more bravado. There’s film and video games that encourage dangerous and at-the-limits driving — and most of the characters at the wheel are men.”

MacDonald says when it comes to basic things like wearing a seatbelt, over 80 per cent of the offenders are men.

“You turn your engine on, and you put your seatbelt on. When men are resistant to something as basic as that, it starts to explain why there’s resistance in other areas.”

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MacDonald says the statistics include warning tickets issued.

Police hope releasing the statistics will spark a broader conversation about the dangers of risky driving.

“Our objective is to get people to have conversations about road safety. We don’t mind if people want to debate the merits of the statistics — people may have their own theories as to why they are,” says MacDonald. “We welcome all of those discussions and debates because the more conversations we have about road safety are what is going to get us to a better place.”