Who are better drivers: men or women?

[KartMag]

Who would give the answer? It's simple - ask children!
http://www.juliapetrova.com/2010/05/03/men-or-women-who-drive-better-another-brick-in-the-wall-of-a-constant-debate/

[Sonic]

*can*

*worms*

*open*

[EuroTroll]

Easy to answer as soon as you define "better". Are we talking about a lap on a racetrack or getting safely from A to B? If it's the latter, statistics say women are better.

Even though, behind the wheel, they do do the darndest things sometimes..

[tannat]

Walter Rohrl quote (I think):

"Better to crash than to be beaten by a woman..."

:p

[Alexamateo]

I'm going from memory, but I believe studies show that women have more accidents but are safer (accidents are minor, low speed rear enders, accidents caused by distraction (oftentimes related to kids in the car), but men are more dangerous and have accidents with more injuries or fatalities. (driving too fast, driving recklessly)

It's all related to testosterone and (general) spatial orientation.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Walter Rohrl quote (I think):

"Better to crash than to be beaten by a woman..."

:p

He oughta know...Michele Mouton beat him like a drum a few times one year....in real he man rally cars too!

If it is on the road, I will say women can be better..but I think there are more extremes with women. I think about 10% of just god awfully bad....but I do think on the whole their middle 80% are probably better. I also think their 10 % who are exceptional really are off the charts. Why? Simple....any of the women I met in trucking have a few key things going for them. One, they are not afraid to be wrong, or ask directions. Male Pride in trucking means guys get themselves into situations they shouldn't. Two, women drivers are far more gentle on the equipment. It is a fact that they anticipate sooner (the top 10% of women mind you, the one's who drive truck) and they tend to be smoother. A Company out of Calgary has nothing but women driving for one of their yards as an experiment and they picked up on this. They had less damage, less wear and tear, and the ladies were better at managing their days.

That said, the REALLY bad women drivers tend to hold down the side...because they tend to be WAY worse to deal with on the road than the average male bad driver.

[BeansBeansBeans]

I think that people with an interest in cars and motoring tend to be better drivers than those that aren't, and as more men are interested in cars and motoring than women, I guess that'd make men better drivers than women.

I'm talking generally though. I'm well aware that there are plenty of women interested in cars and plenty who could kick my rear in a race.

[Sonic]

Well if we are going to go down this murky path I do have the perfect test subjects at the moment;

I am currently teaching twins to drive (boy and a girl). Their personalities out of the car are aimilar - quite shy and reserved. But in the car they are totally different. The girl is attentive and quite self critical but has decent car control skills for her level, whereas the lad is much surer of himself and tends to need holding back speed wise.

I'm expecting the young man will go on and pass the test faster than his sister, but in my experience it will be the girl who is the "better" ie safer driver.

[KartMag]

This post is only a statistics, a research. Still, I believe the final answer will never be found and the disputes will go on forever...

[donKey jote]

ah henners you´ve just reminded me of the joys of driving in England and all those donkeys hogging the middle lane in case somebody may be joining the otherwise empty inside lane at the next intersection 10 miles ahead :laugh:
if you´re serious about your antics -specially about the braking hard for no other reason than your own particular syndrome bit- and you´re ever driving in Germany, be prepared for a bit of a culture shock ;) :p

[Rollo]

I'm going from memory, but I believe studies show that women have more accidents but are safer (accidents are minor, low speed rear enders, accidents caused by distraction (oftentimes related to kids in the car), but men are more dangerous and have accidents with more injuries or fatalities. (driving too fast, driving recklessly)

It's all related to testosterone and (general) spatial orientation.

:up:

Hear hear. This is the answer, almost to it's end.

All that needs to be added at this point are the consequences of the above: namely that on average and over the course of their lifetime, women cause more monetary damage to motor vehicles, because the value of their total accidents is usually repairable, whereas there is a slight tendency for men to completely write off the vehicle in one go.

[gloomyDAY]

Danica Patrick.

[janvanvurpa]

Walter Rohrl quote (I think):

"Better to crash than to be beaten by a woman..."

:p

Always was an arrogant idiot.
When Mounton beat him it was because of the car, when he won in the same car it's because he always drives perfectly--according to der Woda himself

[BeansBeansBeans]

Racing down the side of you on the inside on the motorway and cutting in is a personal hate of mine. I have a company car and I don't move lol. Also if I'm doing 80mph and someone comes up behind me close with the intention I should get out of their way, expect me to break quite hard as I like to teach people about stopping distance lol. If I spot someone undertaking me I slap my indicator on and watch the reaction of the person as they realise their illegal move nearly caused a big crash.

You sound as bad as those you've set out to criticise. The road isn't the place for foolish games. If you see someone driving badly, let it go.

[MrJan]

whereas there is a slight tendency for men to completely write off the vehicle in one go.

If a job's worth doing..... :D

[fandango]

You sound as bad as those you've set out to criticise. The road isn't the place for foolish games. If you see someone driving badly, let it go.

I have at times done similar things, but Beans is right.

[MrJan]

I just read the link, personally I feel that singing while driving and talking constantly show that females are paying less attention to the road and I've found that any near accidents I've had are because a female driver has done something really unexpected.

I've also noticed that a lot of women struggle to estimate closing distances and will pull out to overtake on a motorway too soon, meaning that it takes them about 3 miles to overtake someone.

There's a woman at work who regularly hits her car and has to have little bits of respray or polishing done, when you're in the car with her it's extremely scary. However a lot of her accidents are just sorted by a garage without going through insurance, this means that an of her crashes are not registered in statistics. I'm confident that the incidents of women hitting parked cars/bollards/kerbs etc. are far higher than anyone has shown previously.

[Bob Riebe]

You sound as bad as those you've set out to criticise. The road isn't the place for foolish games. If you see someone driving badly, let it go.
Bravo!

To get where on is gong safely, but not quickly-- women.
To get where one is going quickly, to hell with other concerns-- men.

[Caroline]

There's a woman at work who regularly hits her car and has to have little bits of respray or polishing done, when you're in the car with her it's extremely scary. However a lot of her accidents are just sorted by a garage without going through insurance, this means that an of her crashes are not registered in statistics. I'm confident that the incidents of women hitting parked cars/bollards/kerbs etc. are far higher than anyone has shown previously.

That's one woman. And you are entitled to that opinion. However if I was to base a post on just the driving experiences of one man I would not be taken seriously.

Honestly, if women are such poor drivers (crashing into bollards etc)they should be paying higher insurance premiums, driving smaller engined cars and having regular retests. In order to maintain public safety of course.

[MrJan]

That's one woman. And you are entitled to that opinion. However if I was to base a post on just the driving experiences of one man I would not be taken seriously.

Honestly, if women are such poor drivers (crashing into bollards etc)they should be paying higher insurance premiums, driving smaller engined cars and having regular retests. In order to maintain public safety of course.

Yes it is just one woman (and a particularly stupid one at that) but I never said that all women are the same. Would you also like to take issue with the people who say that white van and Beemer drivers are crap, or do you not have that particular chip on your shoulder? :p :

Would you argue that men, on average, get more 'parking scars' than women?

[Caroline]

I just get fed up with anecdotal evidence getting mixed up with facts. I know just as many men as women who have scuffs and bumps on their cars. Can't all be caused be females. Generally though, I don't like to generalise :p

[driveace]

After 49 years in the driver training industry,and some as a Department of Transport Driving Examiner,I would say that you cannot really generalise.usually men are easier to teach,but most have a "I can walk on water" attitude and drive generally to fast for their ability,some girls can be very easy to teach .but can be very temperamental,and dont take criticism too well,in fact when you try to correct them on faults(whilst stationary) ,they look out of the side window and will not listen to advice.
I see good and bad drivers of both sexes,but I take a lot of company van drivers out,for assesments,and corrective driving,and find most dont know when they can use bus lanes and are generally very bad with side mirror observation,and would have no idea of any cyclists who may be up the inside of them when exiting rundabouts.
I think one BIG problem we have in have this country is the fact that on 2 lane dual carriageway road,same as the AI,we have HGV's overtaking each other for in many cases ,half a mile.What we should do IS the same as they do in Germany on the A8.NO OVERTAKING by trucks between 7am and 7pm and it WORKS,so the 2nd lane is faster running as you dont get rucks doing 100k holding up the 2nd lane

[J4MIE]

Well if we are going to go down this murky path I do have the perfect test subjects at the moment;

I am currently teaching twins to drive (boy and a girl). Their personalities out of the car are aimilar - quite shy and reserved. But in the car they are totally different. The girl is attentive and quite self critical but has decent car control skills for her level, whereas the lad is much surer of himself and tends to need holding back speed wise.

I'm expecting the young man will go on and pass the test faster than his sister, but in my experience it will be the girl who is the "better" ie safer driver.

This sounds just like me and my sister, and she failed her first test and I passed with one minor.

We have both never crashed in coming up for ten years of driving (I've only had two slight scrapes, both in Italy ;( ), I am still adament that the cattle grid writing off my dad's car wasn't my fault :D Plus I reckon I am a better driver than her anyway ;)

[Daniel]

I just get fed up with anecdotal evidence getting mixed up with facts. I know just as many men as women who have scuffs and bumps on their cars. Can't all be caused be females. Generally though, I don't like to generalise :p

Facts eh dearie? :p

[J4MIE]

I still think that my parents are amazed that neither me, my sister or my two brothers have had a "proper" accident yet :s

[MrJan]

I still think that my parents are amazed that neither me, my sister or my two brothers have had a "proper" accident yet :s

I think that I'm amazed that I haven't had a 'proper' accident yet. With so much traffic on the roads it only takes a slight lack of concentration from you or someone else to end up in the hedge or worse.

[Daniel]

I think that I'm amazed that I haven't had a 'proper' accident yet. With so much traffic on the roads it only takes a slight lack of concentration from you or someone else to end up in the hedge or worse.
Yeah, it's only a momentry lapse of concentration that causes accidents. Can't remember what distracted about 7 years ago but I went into the back of a Mitsubishi which then went into the back of a Toyota. End result, light panel damage to my car and a broken fan blade and a written of Mitsubishi Lancer (Not an Evo btw!) :uhoh:

[bluegem280]

Women can drive, but I doubt they can endure long like men. It's good however, they can shift you driving for one or two hours before you take driving back. You are lucky if you have wife/gf can drive as good or even better than you. Some men would agree that woman who drives cars is sexy...

[fandango]

I think that I'm amazed that I haven't had a 'proper' accident yet. With so much traffic on the roads it only takes a slight lack of concentration from you or someone else to end up in the hedge or worse.

Yes, and it's good to stay that way. Amazed, and concentrating....