RE: Why are women better drivers?
Discussion
Come on gents we all know what's wrong with male drivers and probably most of us have worked to overcome our limitations and improve our driving. Likewise women (generally) have inherent limitations and strengths when it comes to driving. The real difference will be which drivers are more likely to 'do something' about these limitations and improve their driving. I've no doubt that young female drivers are safer than young male drivers, but I suspect this all gets far less predictable when we consider how interested a particular driver is in the process of driving (and cars). Someone that regards driving as a means to an end would concern me more than someone who relishes it and seeks to improve their skill. There is a tendency for men to invest in something they consider as a hobby, but I suspect women make less of an improvement over time (I wouldn't mind seeing that data if it was collected), so generalising about a gender stereotype is a bit daft when their are many different niches within each gender that behave very differently.
DoctorD said:
The real difference will be which drivers are more likely to 'do something' about these limitations and improve their driving. I've no doubt that young female drivers are safer than young male drivers, but I suspect this all gets far less predictable when we consider how interested a particular driver is in the process of driving (and cars). Someone that regards driving as a means to an end would concern me more than someone who relishes it and seeks to improve their skill. There is a tendency for men to invest in something they consider as a hobby, but I suspect women make less of an improvement over time (I wouldn't mind seeing that data if it was collected), so generalising about a gender stereotype is a bit daft when their are many different niches within each gender that behave very differently.
You raise many interesting and valid points here. Someone who sees driving as a means of getting from A to B will not invest time in learning to be a better driver.
I think that women can spend as much money as men on their hobbies. It all comes down to what their hobby is.
I have actually become a better driver over time. When I was younger I had a few accidents, mostly as a result of poor awareness of my surroundings. With age and the acquirement of a faster, more powerful car, I decided to improve my driving and became an Associate of the IAM. I am now training to be an Observer. As I said earlier, it is a question of attitude rather than gender.
Don said:
In my household the wife will only drive if she absolutely has to. She'd prefer to be chauffeured everywhere - despite owning a sports car which she likes me to drive for her!
You're wife is not representative. Im my household I am the driver - my husband can't drive and prefers to be a passenger anyway. I have a vintage sportscar and a motorbike and drive loads. I still don't believe that makes me the rule-setter for all others.
EmmaP said:
42% Over what time scale? That is incredible. What on earth has changed I wonder?
I'm not sure, but I lived with an American a year or so ago and she mentioned this. She reckoned it might be down to the average American car - so inert to drive they virtually encourage a lack of concentration (she was a petrolhead who drove a Chrysler LeBaron GTS Turbo convertible when she was back home).
She also said that they don't have the whole 'speed kills' thing over there, thankfully, so when the police come into schools they talk about 'bad driving' and the dangers of drink/drug driving. Apparently, though, the vast majority of their well-meaning campaigns are aimed squarely at young male drivers.
I think it's all the same as the general male vs female arguments. There are tendencies when you look at large enough groups, but an awful lot of it is upbringing.
The age old question of why can't women catch a ball? It's not necessarily to do with some innate ball catching skill (I'm willing to concede that there may be some genetics there) but more to do with what parents encourage. A boy is more likely to be taught sports than a girl. And conversely, why do boys have no dress sense? Because it's the girls that are told they're beautiful usually, boys will get complimented on other things
Similarly, cars are seen as a "boys" thing. Girls are given horses toys to play with, and boys get cars.
So when you bring this to bear on driving: neither are necessarily better or worse, but some taught habits may drag over.
I'd be interested to see how perceptions have changed and will change. I think the Harry Enfield sketch "Women for pities sake, don't drive" may have been accurate to some extent for the time it parodies. But gender roles have become blurred in the last 50 years leading to no perceptible gap in general driving skills between men and women IMHO.
I think we're all as bad as each other, but with tendencies to different faults. Men hit moving objects, women hit stationary object is the classic one (with stats to back it up).
The age old question of why can't women catch a ball? It's not necessarily to do with some innate ball catching skill (I'm willing to concede that there may be some genetics there) but more to do with what parents encourage. A boy is more likely to be taught sports than a girl. And conversely, why do boys have no dress sense? Because it's the girls that are told they're beautiful usually, boys will get complimented on other things
Similarly, cars are seen as a "boys" thing. Girls are given horses toys to play with, and boys get cars.
So when you bring this to bear on driving: neither are necessarily better or worse, but some taught habits may drag over.
I'd be interested to see how perceptions have changed and will change. I think the Harry Enfield sketch "Women for pities sake, don't drive" may have been accurate to some extent for the time it parodies. But gender roles have become blurred in the last 50 years leading to no perceptible gap in general driving skills between men and women IMHO.
I think we're all as bad as each other, but with tendencies to different faults. Men hit moving objects, women hit stationary object is the classic one (with stats to back it up).
My wife isn't really interested in cars and she has never had any accidents in about 12 years of driving.
I too have never caused any accidents (involved in a few) and have been driving for about 19 years.
The people who have hit me have been:-
Elderly lady not paying attention wandered across to my side of the road and drove into me.
Man at side junction pulled onto 60mph road I was driving along then just stopped in front of me, I ploughed straight into the side of him.
Woman reversed off her drive without looking and into the side of me whilst I was waiting to turn out of a junction.
Woman drove into the back of me after failing to stop at a roundabout.
Women make less life threatening mistakes!
The man who pulled out across my path then stopped did so when I was only around 30-40 feet from him and that's not much when you're doing about 60mph. I knew he had seen me and he just looked like he would wait but he thought he'd chance his luck instead of waiting then noticed another car coming the opposite way to me so he just stopped in front of me, he would have been hit by either me or the other car and he was lucky I didn't kill him - I had no ABS on that old Peugeot but good brakes so I locked all 4 wheels and I hit his driver door square on at probably around 40mph. Both cars were rather a mess!
On another occasion I had a guy cross all 4 motorway lanes from the outside lane and cross in front of me in excess of 80mph with just inches to spare because he had almost missed his exit off the motorway. I don't know how he didn't spin or hit the front of me. Completely barmy risk that was.
I've never experienced a woman taking risks like that.
I too have never caused any accidents (involved in a few) and have been driving for about 19 years.
The people who have hit me have been:-
Elderly lady not paying attention wandered across to my side of the road and drove into me.
Man at side junction pulled onto 60mph road I was driving along then just stopped in front of me, I ploughed straight into the side of him.
Woman reversed off her drive without looking and into the side of me whilst I was waiting to turn out of a junction.
Woman drove into the back of me after failing to stop at a roundabout.
Women make less life threatening mistakes!
The man who pulled out across my path then stopped did so when I was only around 30-40 feet from him and that's not much when you're doing about 60mph. I knew he had seen me and he just looked like he would wait but he thought he'd chance his luck instead of waiting then noticed another car coming the opposite way to me so he just stopped in front of me, he would have been hit by either me or the other car and he was lucky I didn't kill him - I had no ABS on that old Peugeot but good brakes so I locked all 4 wheels and I hit his driver door square on at probably around 40mph. Both cars were rather a mess!
On another occasion I had a guy cross all 4 motorway lanes from the outside lane and cross in front of me in excess of 80mph with just inches to spare because he had almost missed his exit off the motorway. I don't know how he didn't spin or hit the front of me. Completely barmy risk that was.
I've never experienced a woman taking risks like that.
I don't think it matters, male or female, I have had 4 accidents. None my fault.
1. a young lad on a motorbike pulled out of a side road, went under the front of my fiesta, thought I'd killed him, but he got up. He admitted he'd done exactly the same thing a few months before.
2. a bloke on his way home from the pub pulled out of a side road across the front of me, I couldn't stop and went into the side of him, lost my front end on a deserted road, and he turned round and did a runner. (charming)
3. a woman in a petrol station reversed into me. Why she never said, but she never looked in her mirror either to see me. And deaf cos she didn't hear my horn.
4. a bloke in a supermarket car park, pulled out of row of cars and straight into the side of me, now I'm driving a voyager, not a small car, and he said he never saw me..........deaf as well cos he didn't hear my horn either.
Then outside school waiting for my kids to come out I am mortally embarassed to be a woman when i see the way some of the other mums drive.
If my husband thought I was a terrible driver, he would never allow me to drive the TVR, but he positively encourages me to. And he certainly wouldn't let me ferry the kids around in the car either.
1. a young lad on a motorbike pulled out of a side road, went under the front of my fiesta, thought I'd killed him, but he got up. He admitted he'd done exactly the same thing a few months before.
2. a bloke on his way home from the pub pulled out of a side road across the front of me, I couldn't stop and went into the side of him, lost my front end on a deserted road, and he turned round and did a runner. (charming)
3. a woman in a petrol station reversed into me. Why she never said, but she never looked in her mirror either to see me. And deaf cos she didn't hear my horn.
4. a bloke in a supermarket car park, pulled out of row of cars and straight into the side of me, now I'm driving a voyager, not a small car, and he said he never saw me..........deaf as well cos he didn't hear my horn either.
Then outside school waiting for my kids to come out I am mortally embarassed to be a woman when i see the way some of the other mums drive.
If my husband thought I was a terrible driver, he would never allow me to drive the TVR, but he positively encourages me to. And he certainly wouldn't let me ferry the kids around in the car either.
grass widow said:
I don't think it matters, male or female, I have had 4 accidents. None my fault.
1. a young lad on a motorbike pulled out of a side road, went under the front of my fiesta, thought I'd killed him, but he got up. He admitted he'd done exactly the same thing a few months before.
And you didn't notice at the time
grass widow said:
2. a bloke on his way home from the pub pulled out of a side road across the front of me, I couldn't stop and went into the side of him, lost my front end on a deserted road, and he turned round and did a runner. (charming)
You don't say if he was in a car or not
grass widow said:
3. a woman in a petrol station reversed into me. Why she never said, but she never looked in her mirror either to see me. And deaf cos she didn't hear my horn.
She was looking in the mirror - all she could see was herself smiling back.
grass widow said:
4. a bloke in a supermarket car park, pulled out of row of cars and straight into the side of me, now I'm driving a voyager, not a small car, and he said he never saw me..........deaf as well cos he didn't hear my horn either.
Of course he didn't - in a car park he was looking out for peds or cars not a f
ing bus. grass widow said:
Then outside school waiting for my kids to come out I am mortally embarassed to be a woman when i see the way some of the other mums drive.
If my husband thought I was a terrible driver, he would never allow me to drive the TVR, but he positively encourages me to. And he certainly wouldn't let me ferry the kids around in the car either.
sorry in no way was this meant to be serious in any way, my pills have worn off...
I've never had an accident (touches wood 
). Statistics are a funny thing. They can be used to make anything look the way you want it. A far better measurement would be for it to be a per mile driven type affair. As has already been said, blokes on the whole drive more than women, so a little fairness in just 1 set of statistics would be nice!
). Statistics are a funny thing. They can be used to make anything look the way you want it. A far better measurement would be for it to be a per mile driven type affair. As has already been said, blokes on the whole drive more than women, so a little fairness in just 1 set of statistics would be nice!Jinx
No 1 wasn't under my car the first time, if he had been would have made sure I made a better job of it second time around.
No 2 was in a pick up truck.
No 3 possibly
No 4 if it was a red voyager would have said it could pass for a bus but its not.
Double your medication, then it won't wear off quite so quickly.
No 1 wasn't under my car the first time, if he had been would have made sure I made a better job of it second time around.
No 2 was in a pick up truck.
No 3 possibly
No 4 if it was a red voyager would have said it could pass for a bus but its not.
Double your medication, then it won't wear off quite so quickly.
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