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Nearly half a million road accidents a year are caused by women drivers applying make-up behind the wheel, a new survey discloses. Around on fifth of female motorists confess they have touched up their mascara on the move equivalent to 2.7 million women drivers. Three per cent admitted causing a collision when distracted by applying when distracted by applying cosmetics. The poll of 4,000 women drivers by women�s motor insurer Diamond comes a year after the introduction of a new offence of causing death by careless driving which carries a prison sentence of up to two years. Previously, careless driving offences � including applying make-up, eating and map-reading � were punishable only by a fine. Young women, aged between 17 and 21, were found to be the most likely to put beauty before safety and most liable to crash their care as a result. Twenty-seven per cent confessed to putting on makeup and nine per cent of those aged 18 or younger have had a crash while doing so � three times the average. That compares with just six per cent of women aged 56 or older who are least likely to do it at the wheel and just one in 200 � 0.5 per cent � in that age group who have had an accident while applying make-up. Diamond managing director Sian Lewis said it is �worrying� that so many women put themselves and other road users at risk. �We all have busy lives but applying your make-up when you�re driving means your full attention is not on the road ahead.� She said. �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. �Women are generally great at doing more than one thing at once but his is definitely one area where multitasking should not be practised.�