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Nearly half a million road accidents a year in the UK, are caused by women drivers applying make-up, according to a new survey. One in five female motorists admit touched up their make-up on the move - and three per cent had caused an accident while applying cosmetics. Young women, aged between 17 and 21, were found to be the most likely to put beauty before safety in the poll of 4,000 women drivers by Women's car insurance specialist Diamond. According to motor insurer Diamond, the findings reveal that 27% confessed to putting on make-up and 9% of those aged 18 or younger have had a crash while doing so - three times the average. Diamond managing director Sian Lewis said it was "worrying" that so many women put themselves and other road users at risk. �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," 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 this is definitely one area where multitasking should not be practised."