RE: Why are women better drivers?
Discussion
I think that there are good and bad male and female drivers. I think that some of the comments on this thread are pretty ridiculous and based on assumption rather than knowledge. All I will say is that whenever I have someone driving up my arse it is usually a bloke. I know some excellent female drivers and male drivers. I think that being a good, safe and considerate driver is down to attitude rather than gender.
bmw114 said:
Last year the wife and I were on our way to the garden center in my TR7 soft top and a dark blue Range Rover was " doing 60 mph less than 10 feet behind me", it worried me so i asked my wife to wave a hand at him to tell him to " back off" which he did by about 25 feet.
I pulled into the garden center and so did he, I was just putting my coat in the boot when he walked by and came over to say something, his wife said "Don`t Fred its not worth it " and carried on walking, her not him.
He then told me that he was`nt that close, now i`m no shrinking violet but he was old and small, like some sort of ex RAF type so i just said it was worring me, him in a big Range Rover and me in my pride and joy, again he said he was`nt that close so I gave up and walked away.
Waste of time talking to people that are in denial.
Do you think he was to close?
If i want you to see things my way i will exaggerate, thats the only point i was making.
When you use the word "often" i assume you mean more than 50% of the time, if you had been going to the garden center that day you would have been surprised then.
More "often" than not when i see someone up my exhaust pipe its usually a bloke, I agree with the age but not the sex, sorry.
I agree that men do drive more agreesively (in general) and that SOME men also follow too close but I have GENERALLY found that they will either pass or hang back after the initial tail gating.
I don't think women that do tail gate are doing so intentionally, I think they are just keeping up with the car in fromt of them and SOME don't really see any difference in how close they are whether they are travelling at 20 or 60.
On my way home last night I had a lady in her mid 20's in a black new shape Mondeo following me at 60mph about 20 feet behind me for almost 2 miles on single carriageway, there were cars ahead of me and traffic in the opposite direction, she wasn't trying to pass but she was happy to follow that close for a considerable time. I eventually had to brake firmly then step back on the gas for her to realise she was driving too close, after that she kept a safe distance.
oppressed mass said:
Also women have a wider field of peripheral vision and can take in a wider view. This is proved by the fact that women can find butter in the fridge at a glance but men have to look at each object until the come across the butter.
What complete tosh. I can see every item on my desk while looking at my screen and pick each item up without looking at it.
But I havent had butter for ages as i cant find it in the fridge
EmmaP said:
I think that there are good and bad male and female drivers. I think that some of the comments on this thread are pretty ridiculous and based on assumption rather than knowledge. All I will say is that whenever I have someone driving up my arse it is usually a bloke. I know some excellent female drivers and male drivers. I think that being a good, safe and considerate driver is down to attitude rather than gender.
I find its 50/50 ratio of men to women tailgating me.
I dont understand why they do it
tinman0 said:
The scientists looked at how well people could switch from one task to another after having their attention "fixed" on one task and found that women are significantly better than men at shifting concentration quickly, while doing tasks such as motorway driving.
Well, the statement is true in general, although of course you do get men with "female" brains and women with "male" brains (and not just in Thailand)
There's also a school of thought that links this with the good old handedness debate, and people aren't actually left or right handed, they're both- or single-handed, and the both-handed people are perceived as lefties. These both-handed people have the aforementioned extra cabling between brain areas...
[quote]
Anyway, ffs why is anyone multitasking when driving? The task when driving is "driving" and not driving and doing other things.
We're all getting excited about it here because of the last clause in that sentence, which relates the general theory to driving in particular. However, I would say that motorway driving requires a deal less multitasking than your average 30mph zone. Mway driving is all about planning in order to REDUCE the amount of multitasking necessary.
Driving down a high street, on the other hand, requires you to assess distance of car in front and behind, use all three mirrors regularly, watch street furniture, watch for signs, watch for pedestrians and animals, and maintain and/or adjust speed, which might involve a gear change (which is a whole other world of multitasking), and and and...
cotty said:
Also women have a wider field of peripheral vision and can take in a wider view. This is proved by the fact that women can find butter in the fridge at a glance but men have to look at each object until the come across the butter.
What complete tosh. I can see every item on my desk while looking at my screen and pick each item up without looking at it.
But I havent had butter for ages as i cant find it in the fridge
Nah...Men can't find butter in the fridge because a mans fridge only has alcohol in it.
cotty said:
Also women have a wider field of peripheral vision and can take in a wider view. This is proved by the fact that women can find butter in the fridge at a glance but men have to look at each object until the come across the butter.
What complete tosh. I can see every item on my desk while looking at my screen and pick each item up without looking at it.
But I havent had butter for ages as i cant find it in the fridge
Ask your wife to go to the Garage and find the 13mm ring spanner and see how good her peripheral vision is then, and for a laugh put a tub of butter somewhere and i`ll bet she shouts "whats this butter doing in here" within 30 seconds.
bmw114 said:
Also women have a wider field of peripheral vision and can take in a wider view. This is proved by the fact that women can find butter in the fridge at a glance but men have to look at each object until the come across the butter.
What complete tosh. I can see every item on my desk while looking at my screen and pick each item up without looking at it.
But I havent had butter for ages as i cant find it in the fridge
Ask your wife to go to the Garage and find the 13mm ring spanner and see how good her peripheral vision is then, and for a laugh put a tub of butter somewhere and i`ll bet she shouts "whats this butter doing in here" within 30 seconds.
Do women have less accidents per mile driven? I doubt it. Do women get the car fixed on the sly without telling anyone so hubby doesn't find out? You betcha. Ask any ChipsAway francisee how many times they get asked to fix a dint in a hurry, and by whom.
OK, generalisations, and I personally know some bloked who are definitely "women drivers" and at least one woman who certainly isn't, but like most prejudices there's no smoke without fire.
OK, generalisations, and I personally know some bloked who are definitely "women drivers" and at least one woman who certainly isn't, but like most prejudices there's no smoke without fire.
The following are statistics from an insurance company. They have passed their 'eat-by' date but the current ones only reflect the fact that women now drive more than they did 10 years ago.
Under the age of 18 years, females have 52 accidents per milliaon miles. men 50pmm.
Age 18, females have 38 accidents pmm, men 32.
19-22, female 23, men 18.
23-29, female, 15, men 10.
30-69, female, 12-14, men 7-8.
>70, female 12, men 12.
The reason insurance claims are lower for women is two-fold: they drive less than 2/3rds the distance men do and they drive more in 30mph limits, so damage is consequently less costly to repair.
It is widely accepted in insurance circles, I am informed, that many accidents in 30mph limits are not reported, e.g. parking scrapes. These are settled 'out of court' so to speak. It is difficult to do this if you strike a parked car at 60mph. So, logically, woman have more unreported accidents than men. Circumstantial evidence - not perfect but better than the suggestion in Fox's article in the papers.
This does not prove women are worse drivers than men, though. All it shows is that they have more accidents per mile. There are many other variables that should be taken into consideration before a conclusion can be reached. The article by this Foxy woman was short of fact and long on supposition and suggestions. It seemed very poor science to me.
I've read that the reason men have less accidents than women, despite the fact that they drive considerably faster and often intoxicated (which means those men driving at the same speed as women and as sober have many fewer accidents) is that they do not multi-task. They concentrate on the matter in hand. But, as that conclusion has as much factual basis as Fox's conclusions I would suggest it is as just as much rubbish.
There was an excellent article on the subject on the comparison between the accident rates of men and women on page 25 of this year's June Sprint. The odd thing is that, when writing the article, I wondered if I really cared whether men or women were worse/better.
The real difference is age. The older the driver, at least up until the age of 70, the safer. Even those over 70 are much less likely to have an accident than those sub-middle age. One would assume it was experience but there's no evidence to support that.
The one thing that comes over in Fox's article is that universities come out with so much rubbish. And at our expense. Still, she's got to get her masters/phd somehow and it must be easy not picking a difficult subject.
I used to be in charge of Sussex's police driving school. One women graduated with a class 1 then wrote off two police cars within 9 months. It was one of the worst accident rates of any qualified driver. However, she remains one of the best drivers, male or female, I've been a passenger with.
You can't judge a driver's ability solely with their accident rate.
Derek
Under the age of 18 years, females have 52 accidents per milliaon miles. men 50pmm.
Age 18, females have 38 accidents pmm, men 32.
19-22, female 23, men 18.
23-29, female, 15, men 10.
30-69, female, 12-14, men 7-8.
>70, female 12, men 12.
The reason insurance claims are lower for women is two-fold: they drive less than 2/3rds the distance men do and they drive more in 30mph limits, so damage is consequently less costly to repair.
It is widely accepted in insurance circles, I am informed, that many accidents in 30mph limits are not reported, e.g. parking scrapes. These are settled 'out of court' so to speak. It is difficult to do this if you strike a parked car at 60mph. So, logically, woman have more unreported accidents than men. Circumstantial evidence - not perfect but better than the suggestion in Fox's article in the papers.
This does not prove women are worse drivers than men, though. All it shows is that they have more accidents per mile. There are many other variables that should be taken into consideration before a conclusion can be reached. The article by this Foxy woman was short of fact and long on supposition and suggestions. It seemed very poor science to me.
I've read that the reason men have less accidents than women, despite the fact that they drive considerably faster and often intoxicated (which means those men driving at the same speed as women and as sober have many fewer accidents) is that they do not multi-task. They concentrate on the matter in hand. But, as that conclusion has as much factual basis as Fox's conclusions I would suggest it is as just as much rubbish.
There was an excellent article on the subject on the comparison between the accident rates of men and women on page 25 of this year's June Sprint. The odd thing is that, when writing the article, I wondered if I really cared whether men or women were worse/better.
The real difference is age. The older the driver, at least up until the age of 70, the safer. Even those over 70 are much less likely to have an accident than those sub-middle age. One would assume it was experience but there's no evidence to support that.
The one thing that comes over in Fox's article is that universities come out with so much rubbish. And at our expense. Still, she's got to get her masters/phd somehow and it must be easy not picking a difficult subject.
I used to be in charge of Sussex's police driving school. One women graduated with a class 1 then wrote off two police cars within 9 months. It was one of the worst accident rates of any qualified driver. However, she remains one of the best drivers, male or female, I've been a passenger with.
You can't judge a driver's ability solely with their accident rate.
Derek
Interesting stuff Derek.
In my case (driving for a living for 30 odd years), I've definately mellowed with age, become more cautious, SENSIBLE.
Just part of the process of maturing, along with the experience of course, and that definately includes all the bumps and frights I had in my youth.
As in all things, you also learn from your mistakes.
In my case (driving for a living for 30 odd years), I've definately mellowed with age, become more cautious, SENSIBLE.
Just part of the process of maturing, along with the experience of course, and that definately includes all the bumps and frights I had in my youth.
As in all things, you also learn from your mistakes.
My name is Brian and so is my wife!
sorry wrong sketch.
I am a good driver and so is my wife, except she can't park the car in a tight spot and she does clutch control instead of handbrakes or foot brakes at traffic lights which irritates me like hell , that clutch will need changing soon.
Next time I'll buy her an automatic , serves her right!
Overall ,she never lets the grass grow under her car's wheel arches
sorry wrong sketch.
I am a good driver and so is my wife, except she can't park the car in a tight spot and she does clutch control instead of handbrakes or foot brakes at traffic lights which irritates me like hell , that clutch will need changing soon.
Next time I'll buy her an automatic , serves her right!
Overall ,she never lets the grass grow under her car's wheel arches
Well, let's open the wormcan....
The ADAC (german AA) has done a lot of research and compared on a mileage basis men/wimmin and found that in the compared group in Germany women have 5-10 times more accidents BUT as these are small (door dings, fender benders) tend not to report them...men have REAL dings and then use their/others insurances to get them repaired. We pay for insurance therefore we use it! women don't.
In the same report the ADAC reported that the females did less than 3000-3500km/year on average against 15-20000km/year by men in the same group...
The other comparison, my better half is an awful driver.. accellerator flat to the floor or brake flat to the floor.... no take it easy, no matching the speed to the traffic. Travelling with her driving is a neck-wrencher. And she gets all the speeding tickets (all for 35 in a 30 or 56 in a 50) in town (average 2 a year).... I last had mine over 10 years ago, touch wood! Her car is strewn with dings, rubbed bumpers, door dings, scratches and scrapes...mine with more miles in a year as hers in 5 is pristine.....again touch wood!
As far as women drivers I personally know, the only good one is a fantastic safe and fast driver, the others I just refuse to travel with (or drive them myself) as they don't think of it as a task, just as a way of getting to their hairdresser/shops/dog parlour and not as something which they have to pay attention to..... result.... fender benders door dings everything!!!! "It's not as if it'll reduce the value of the car will it?" was one of the replies after a minor ding when I was with one......
An endless argument which will never go away...lets just call "PEACE" and get on with the fact that there are numpties out there!!!!
KEEP IT SHINY SIDE UP!!!
The ADAC (german AA) has done a lot of research and compared on a mileage basis men/wimmin and found that in the compared group in Germany women have 5-10 times more accidents BUT as these are small (door dings, fender benders) tend not to report them...men have REAL dings and then use their/others insurances to get them repaired. We pay for insurance therefore we use it! women don't.
In the same report the ADAC reported that the females did less than 3000-3500km/year on average against 15-20000km/year by men in the same group...
The other comparison, my better half is an awful driver.. accellerator flat to the floor or brake flat to the floor.... no take it easy, no matching the speed to the traffic. Travelling with her driving is a neck-wrencher. And she gets all the speeding tickets (all for 35 in a 30 or 56 in a 50) in town (average 2 a year).... I last had mine over 10 years ago, touch wood! Her car is strewn with dings, rubbed bumpers, door dings, scratches and scrapes...mine with more miles in a year as hers in 5 is pristine.....again touch wood!
As far as women drivers I personally know, the only good one is a fantastic safe and fast driver, the others I just refuse to travel with (or drive them myself) as they don't think of it as a task, just as a way of getting to their hairdresser/shops/dog parlour and not as something which they have to pay attention to..... result.... fender benders door dings everything!!!! "It's not as if it'll reduce the value of the car will it?" was one of the replies after a minor ding when I was with one......
An endless argument which will never go away...lets just call "PEACE" and get on with the fact that there are numpties out there!!!!
KEEP IT SHINY SIDE UP!!!
EmmaP said:
I think that there are good and bad male and female drivers. I think that some of the comments on this thread are pretty ridiculous and based on assumption rather than knowledge. All I will say is that whenever I have someone driving up my arse it is usually a bloke. I know some excellent female drivers and male drivers. I think that being a good, safe and considerate driver is down to attitude rather than gender.
Well said
My wife is a good competent driver. She drives quite quickly, although is a little hesitant to overtake. She will not drive my Triumphs [thank god] as she is worried about scratching them, but she can take the kids & their horses to town in our 4 horse truck. She can also take them in the horse trailer, as long as she does not have to back it. She can lack a little in concentration however. She took our youngest to town,40Km each way, cruising at 120 KPH, in our recently acquired Toyota Hilux ute. When they got home, my daughter wanted to know what was wrong with the new ute. When I told her there was nothing wrong with it, she then wanted to know why mum had driven all the way in 4Th gear. My wife had not bothered to notice that these new fangled things have 5 gears. Her only comment was that she had thought the engine was a bit noisy. Just as well that the Hilux is a tough ute.
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