Accident Repair Centre in Portsmouth

Thursday 27 June 2013

Nearly HALF of women apply make-up behind the wheel, causing as many as 450,000 car accidents A YEAR

- 43% admitted putting on their face while driving cars on the daily commute
- Most commonly applied at traffic lights or in a traffic jam
- Confess they know it is dangerous, but still continue to do it anyway
- Lip gloss is most popular cosmetic to apply while driving - 35% do it
- Average time spent applying make-up before work is 10 minutes
- Just 5% of women don't wear any make-up to work

It is not so much a case of mirror, signal, manoeuvre as mirror, signal, mascara.

Almost half of women admit applying make-up while driving – mainly because they get out of bed at the last minute, a poll reveals.

Some 46 per cent go for last-minute beauty top-ups – most often at traffic lights or while queuing – and 43 per cent say they do it even though they know it is wrong.

Insurers estimate that as many as 450,000 accidents a year are caused by women drivers being distracted while applying cosmetics.

Yet only 14 per cent said using make-up in the car affected their driving, according to a poll of 1,000 women by semi-permanent make-up specialist Debra Robson.

Lip gloss, mascara and lipstick were the most commonly applied products by commuters.

But the reason for their haste is time pressure. A fifth are so rushed in the morning they spend just five minutes doing their make-up.

And it isn't just behind the wheel that women are carrying out an on-the-go beauty regime.

More than six out of ten (63 per cent) put on make-up on the train, and a further 43 per cent on the bus.

The most popular make-up products applied by commuters are lip gloss (35 per cent), mascara (30 per cent), lipstick (25 per cent), bronzer (6 per cent) and eyeliner (4 per cent).

Furthermore, a panicked one fifth (21 per cent) are so rushed they spend just five minutes doing their make-up, while 42 per cent spend 10 minutes and 22 per cent spend 20 minutes.

Only 10 per cent of women spend 30 minutes or more putting on their faces before work, and just 5 per cent don't wear any make-up at work.

Debra Robson, of Harley Street clinic Debra Robson LDN, who commissioned the survey, said: 'We all know putting make-up on in the car is wrong - but nearly half of us do it.

'It's because most professional women do everything in a rush, particularly in the mornings when they are juggling a multitude of tasks.

'That's why so many women are finishing off their make-up routine on their daily commute - whether that is in the car or on the bus or the train.

'Faced with such time pressures, increasing numbers of women are trying semi-permanent make-up.

'It saves vital minutes in the mornings and means your make-up looks great from the moment you wake up.'