Women Drivers

[f1.redbaron]

Back to the woman driving thing...I really don't think that they drive that bad. There are a few and yes parking is terrible for most woman (including me...especially on a bad day and being nervous as Tomba is sitting next to me ) but I don't think that woman cause more accidents. Woman are more carefull when they are driving, men intend to drive faster and more reckless than woman. That is only my opinion. But as someone said before it has to do with stereotypes.

One of the reasons why men think that women are worse, is because they just seem so focused and so fixed on driving that they just don't know how to relax. And, because of that, you will see them making the most awful mistakes...such as turning into somebody while changing lanes.

For men, driving seems like a natural thing to do (generally speaking). Yes, they won't always signal the lane change (guilty), but they won't, for example, forget to check the blind spot.

Women, on the other hand, don't seem to know how to use the mirrors. When attempting a lane change, they will turn their whole head to see who is behind them (that is why God gave us mirrors) - and not just that. They seem to have this checklist in their heads and they're mentally going through it, slowly, one step at a time. Well, at 100km/h+, things change rapidly and such simple tasks should not take more than a fraction of a second.

One other thing that bugs me about women is their speed. They are so stubborn (oh, where have we seen this before ), that they will chose a speed (usually about 10km/h slower than traffic), and will refuse to adjust to the traffic around it, causing an entire lane to move slower (usually, this is where men get frustrated and make their mistakes).

But, it doesn't matter what I think. What matters is what the insurance companies think...and in North America, they seem to think that women are better drivers (correction: they will not get into an accident as often as men will), thus they enjoy priviledges of cheaper car insurance (so much for the equality between men and women).

btw, in Italy, the first rule of driving is - It doesn't matter what's behind you

[Principessa]

I check my mirrors and check the blind spot before changing lanes (as my father told me to do) and I have to say that I normally drive 10km/h too fast (especially on the highway). But I always drive as much as is allowed and I'm extra carefull around schools and so.

[f1.redbaron]

I check my mirrors and check the blind spot before changing lanes (as my father told me to do) and I have to say that I normally drive 10km/h too fast (especially on the highway). But I always drive as much as is allowed and I'm extra carefull around schools and so.

Hopefully, you understood that I wasn't talking about you, personally...just in general. You will always find exceptions everywhere you go.

[Principessa]

I know Just wanted to point out the exception

[pyry]

it angers me to a great extent when someone drives the limit. i have optimised such procedure out of my system, i drive according to the situation. and the cops dont seem to mind either, i dont have a provocative car, and i generally drive pretty safely, although i may have 30 kmh over.

[Principessa]

I thought the cops where very strict in the Northern countries?

[mini696]

The statistics of men vs women drivers will always be debated. I believe that the men look worse because there are more of them on the road. Simple maths.

Generally I think men have more accidents, but are still better drivers.

[pyry]

rsk

[RH1300S]

I've followed this thread with mild amusement for a while.

For a kick-off - I don't mind laughing at the stereotype pics at the start of it all......funny in themselves and funnier if you throw in a spot of prejudice

No question, men drive better than women. IF you measure it from a typically male point of view. Men tend to like cars, are more interested in driving - so will have a head start in being technically better drivers. There are behavioural factors too.....men tend to have better spatial awareness (you see more male architects and YES men DO read maps better ) and judgement of speed/distance.....we were bred to be hunters. Women tend to be better communicators, have more empathy etc. etc. (seems like women should run the world, we should just get on with making stuff for it )

We all know that men drive faster and show off more in cars. I am sure that the stats would show that we have bigger crashes (don't know for sure). We all know that driving with women you are more likley to wince as they bump over a kerb (it's that spatial thing ) or snatch a gear-change, forget to check the mirror etc.

I reckon you view it like this - take a male perspective where you measure driving on the technical aspects us guys tend to come out on top.

Measure driving skill as a way to move one or more humans safely from A-B and you can't really criticise the ladies.

Always exceptions to the rule 'though.

Finally; I admit - I am generalising and allowing a goodish amount of prejudice into my thoughts.

Cheers

[NickT]

Have to agree with you on this on RH1300S. Could almost be taken from Dr Alan Pease book "Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps" which describes the differences between men and women, and backs it up with scientific research. If you only ever read one book on relationships read this one, its fantastic and funny to.

[Spencifer_Murphy]

Women are classes as better drivers with the fact that "we have less insurance claims" as their main ammunition to fuel their argument.

Its a FACT, a scientifically proven one, that men tend to be better drivers as the paret of our brain which deals with spatial awareness, and the ability to think in a virtual manner (i.e in 10seconds where will that car be relative to mine?) is more advanced, this is due to evolution when men would hunt and women would stay at home and care for the young (therefore developing the part of the brain which deals with multi-tasking better)

Science lecture out of the way theres also this:

Men make less insurance claims, doesn't mean we are worse drivers. fact is women have more minor prangs in a car (reversing into a lamp poast, hitting a kerb, knocking off wing-mirrors through width restitions) but men make more insurance claims as we have more large accidents.

In short, Men are better drivers, but women may well be safer drivers.

[EKE]

I've said this before and I'll say it again.
When women drive, the actual act of driving isn't usually the top of their list of priorities (kids in the back, mobile phone etc). This causes their accidents.
When men drive they (we, I'm a bloke and guilty of this too) take more risks (driving too fast for the conditions, trying to make it through too small a space on traffic). This causes their (our) accidents.
Also, I believe men's observational skills are better.
We see a woman doing something stupid (e.g. turning around to smack a kid in the back seat) and swerving from one lane to another, so we floor it to get past her and stack it into a lamp post on the outside of a bend.
Insurance company's cause of accident: Excessive speed
Real reason: Chain reaction started by little Jonny spilling Ribena in Mummy's new Multipla

[THE JEDI]

Umm very interesting one and all comments, I am an ex Ford Cortina MK 3 race driver, I am a man driver, and for my sins I drive a giant orange B&Q juggernaut, but I have also applied to drive for the Ferrari F1 truck transport team and await there answer.
So here is my two penith worth for what its worth. There are two styles of driving one with your heart and one with your head, if you use your head you drive quick, if you drive on your emotions O boy its fun but nowhere near as quick. Now the woman driver man driver debate always makes me smile. A woman is just as good as any man; it all depends on time behind the wheel. Every mile you clock up is one in the bank of experience. Now a man drives more on the fuel of aggression where as a woman drives on a mixture of common sense and measured aggression, none of this is bad, in fact in my experience I have found that when a woman driver if given the chance to show what she can do she is very capable of matching the man driver and better. Now men drivers in the most part don’t like to see what they believe to be there domain slip away so they in the most part not all, but in the main don’t offer as many chances to the woman drivers as I believe they richly deserve. as for the photos above, I can think of loads of photos of just as wonky men drivers. Hay stuff happens to us all, I just hope there are no cameras about when I have my wonky moment. yours Mark


From Mark the Jedi truck driver… Google Mark Fullick for more on his new book the satirical science fiction adventure The Bible Two..