Women's make-up driving distraction

Almost one fifth of women admit they have put on make up whilst driving, putting themselves and other road users at risk, a new poll has revealed.

Women's car insurance specialist, Diamond quizzed more than 4,000 women on their driving habits and discovered surprisingly high numbers of them take unnecessary risks by applying their make up behind the wheel.

18% of the women questioned said they had have applied make up while driving, while more than 3% said they had also crashed their car as a result of it.

Diamond managing director, Sian Lewis said, "It's worrying that quite so many women admit to this. With more than 15 million women drivers in the UK, this could be as many as 2.7 million women regularly applying their make up whilst driving on UK roads.

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

The Diamond survey found that women aged between 17 and 21 are the most likely to apply make up and drive and unsurprisingly, are also the most likely to have crashed their car as a result of it.

27% of those aged 21 and younger admit to putting make up on behind the wheel, and are three times more likely than average to have crashed their car as a result.

The over 50s are the least likely to apply their make up on the road and as such, are the least likely to have crashed as a result.

Sian Lewis continues, "Women are generally great at doing more than one thing at once but this is definitely one area where multi-tasking should not be practiced."