Women Better Drivers Than Men?
May 1, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
Lets take a deep breath before we start this article, its a bold claim, stating that Women are better drivers than Men. Obviously the statistics used to justify this claim are based on accidents and not actual driving skill.
Insurance company AAMI has found some interesting statistics in a recent telephone survey of more than 2,000 drivers.
- 55 per cent of men – 30 per cent of women – drink drive.
- 47 per cent of men – 38 per cent of women – have rudely gestured at other drivers.
- 84 per cent of men – 77 per cent of women – have crashed their vehicle,
- 51 per cent of men – 40 per cent of women – have been distracted by billboards while driving
- 46 per cent of men – 36 per cent of woman – admitted to verbally abusing another driver.
- 22 per cent of men – 15 per cent of women – admitted to using their mobile phones without hands-free accessories while driving.
So you can see from the survey that things are not looking that great for men, but do all those statistics make women better drivers?
“Our claims data shows that men’s crashes tend to be more serious than women’s, they are more likely to be involved in head-on collisions, roll-overs and loss-of-control crashes, as well as crashes involving pedestrians, cyclists and animals.” AAMI spokesman Geoff Hughes said.
The death statistics are also a little alarming, with men being three times more likely than women to die on the road. However the issue has little to do with Driving skills and a lot more to do with the different in male and female behaviour, with men being the hunters, the need to take risks is significantly higher than females.
“Self-awareness and social responsibility tends to be higher among women, whereas men are biologically more aggressive, more impatient and more willing to push the boundaries,
women use more parts of their brain to undertake tasks and furthermore, differences in men’s and women’s neurological processing can advantage women. Cheetham Consulting Group psychologist John Cheetham
Well then, I dont think anyone can hardly claim that women are better drivers, afterall, safer is not nessacarily better. It would be interesting to see a survey between men and women done in an advanced driving course to see which rates better in terms of driving skill.
Nonetheless, don’t let your girlfriend or wife reverse the car, its not her fault she hit the pole.
“However, the female brain is not as good at spatial relationships, so it is not surprising that they strike stationery objects more frequently than men.”
Now put yourself in the shoes of a 20 something male trying to insure a performance car.
Print it: 
I don’t believe it,
Men are bigger risk takers for sure, but as mentioned, if we put average female and male next to each other and let them run through a driving course, the Male would win hands down,
Females are just slower drivers, if anything, their slowness is one of the reasons males speed and take risks to overcome louzy drivers sitting 10ks under the limit
I agree Johno,
the study simply proves that males take more risks, it has nothing todo with driving skills, or who is the better driver.
The stats are damning, women ARE better drivers. From an insurance point of view, men are definitely riskier…. however, that doesn’t mean that they’re not faster around a racetrack.
Whats an AVERAGE female ?
I get told I drive like a BLOKE. Whats that mean by the way ? Fast, careless ,have more accidents than a chick does,or can just generally drive ? The problem is with AVERAGE women is they have no interest in cars ,its just a mode of transport not a part of their appendage !
“The problem is with AVERAGE women is they have no interest in cars ,its just a mode of transport not a part of their appendage ! ”
Yeah right, women love a man to pick them up in a nice flash car, not to mention if the man has a large appendage its also a bonus :)
As for the stats, this is nothing new. The problem is the wording. Men are more aggressive drivers and take greater risks. Women are generally safer drivers, but are certainly not better. Want proof? Take a seat in any large carpark and observe the skilled art of reverse parking!!!
I totally agree most women do like the appeal of a flash car. That just means money to them not that they like cars. I always thought it wasn’t the size of the appendage but how it was driven,whoops sorry used ! I know a few men also that don’t mind being picked up in my M3. Problem is they want to drive it not be a passenger.Like I am going to let them !
The stats come from insurance companies anyway,I think a lot of women will have a small dingle and not even worry about the repair {or the hubby wont as he is expecting a few more and will get them all done at once} so no claim lodged looks better therefore for women drivers to insurance companies.
Re car parks I have to say that when I park in ANY car park I take up 2 spaces to avoid those bloody pin dents people don’t mind putting in your doors. Men and women are both guilty of that.Unless you appreciate cars and peoples property.
I have to say in general women are ignorant when it comes to knowing about cars,how they work or common sense in some cases.
I doubt the results would be the same if they could quantify km’s travelled vs accidents. Most people would admit that most men do more driving than most women (and therefore more time and kilometres), and are therefore put in more situations where a collision could occur. Strictly from an insurance point of view a woman is a better risk. Insurance risk management does not equate to driving skill.
A bird in a Beema M3…. Fantastic!
“I know a few men also that don’t mind being picked up in my M3″
Yeah Like Lazybones, Alborz, Steane … I’m sure there’s more who will gladly join that list :)
Its all subjective… what is a better drive? On the basis of accidents, yes I would say women are better because they take less risks. On the basis of being able to handle a car, Id say no men are better drivers overall.
Oh and also of note is the fact that men drive more often. So obviously if you have more time on the road you are going to have a greater percentage of accidents etc… stats are often deceiving.
What about all the home bodies,there always out .Having coffee with other home bodies,picking up the kids from school, shopping bla,bla bla . I really don’t think men are in the car more ! I do more ks a week than my hubby ! Mind you he drives a BA GT that has spent more time off the road than on it! Thats another story!
I still think bottom line is that all this is taken from insurance stats only ,this is not a true indication of who is better,just who makes more claims!
so many variables really, its all statisticly based, we cant give a real conclusion
generally, id say men drive better because they seem to concentrate more whereas women crashes are from lack of concentration E.g running up the back of someone, hitting power pole. however men become overconfident and do stupid things that are more likely to end in a writeoff. the whole thing is so ambiguous though
also i think when males have a crash they milk theyre insurance cover for all its worth whereas women to be more honest LOL
hmmmm obviously less women drivers have had accidents and all that, due to the fact that this article says “##” percent of women, not “##” percent of women drivers. i believe that women drivers in general are more easily distracted, leading them to have more accidents. its a fact that more men drive than women, lots of women are too intimidated to drive. next time do an unbiased article only relating to drivers, not people in general.
Guys… guys… Statistics have shown it already.. Enough said… The reason why men gets the most road accidents it is because you guys are a bunch of show-offs! Your ego is as long as your testicles could go. For chrissake just accept the fact that being fast drivers ain’t mean that you are better than us gals…
http://worldsoffthebeatenpath.wordpress.com/
Guys… guys… The statistics have shown it… Enough said… The reason why men gets the most road accidents is because you men are a bunch of showoffs! Your ego is as long, or as short, as your testicle could measure… You know what you should do? Just accept the fact the being a fast driver does not necessarily mean that you are a better driver than us gals… There.
I hate to say it but women are better drivers,
I mean look at the worlds best drivers:
Michelle Schumacher, Colleen McRae, Petra Brock…
I had know idea where else to put this story so I stuck it here.
THE average man would prefer to spend time polishing his precious car than pampering his beloved partner, a new survey shows.
Up to 44 per cent of those polled said they had given their vehicle some attention over the previous two weeks, with 20 per cent spending more than two hours cleaning and polishing, a survey from UK car sale website fish4cars showed.
Yet 10 per cent of men admitted that they had never shown that level of attention to their partners – ever.
And 40 per cent of men surveyed had not bought their loved one a present for more than a month.
The survey of more than 1,000 men also revealed that 28 per cent of them dreamed of owning an Aston Martin and 21 per cent spent a lot of time fantasising about lazy afternoons spent zooming around quiet country lanes with the window down and the music blaring.
Also, 29 per cent of men dream of having an amorous encounter behind the wheel of a car.
hayys
relaxx
the statistics prove men are more riskier and i have to say ive seen so many men cry when they dnt have a car so u no what the only reason y men think theyre better drivers is only because they care women dont really care yes we do when it gets damaged but its not an asset we can live without were men cant
and sometimes we do go slower thats only because we wanna stay safe and its your choice the speed limit you can go 10ks or even 20ks under or over. Males dominated the toll due to reckless driving, also drink driving and under the influence of drugs. Age is a matter at the moment for N.S.W drivers P-Platers have risen 7% over the past couple years.
….
by the way leigh keiruff u are absolutly right
LOL :)
toodles