Are women better drivers?

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TheFoX

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Women are better drivers than men, says new survey

Interesting article based on telematic data available.

What piqued my interest, though, is this statement.

According to Admiral's data, the best driver of all would be a woman with children aged between 46 and 50, living in East Anglia, working as a software engineer and driving a two or three-year-old red Honda automatic.

Firstly, if the woman had children aged between 46 and 50, that would make her late 60's onwards. Considering how many people on this forum think the over 70's should be retested, it's ironic that Admiral think that an elderly lady would make a safe driver. Mind you, if she drives a Honda and still holds down full time employment as a software engineer, then she gets my vote.

Now I know that some of you are going to say that her age should be 46 to 50, and that I am reading it wrong, but it reads exactly as I have seen it. Just goes to show that any illiterate hack can become a journalist.

When conveying a message using the written word, we need to be explicit. Ambiguity just won't do, will it?

Mind you, a few commas would have helped.

According to Admiral's data, the best driver of all would be a woman, with children, aged between 46 and 50, living in East Anglia, working as a software engineer and driving a two or three-year-old red Honda automatic.

That might make more sense.

As for the rest of the article, do you believe women make better drivers than men? Or are they just less adventurous than us machos.

How do you define a better driver? What determines ability, when it is difficult or impossible to measure. After all, we each have an opinion on what is safe and what is not, and what is courteous and what is not.
 
One that doesn't clog up the roads to the impediment and frustration of others is a good place to start. I doubt that that is on Admiral's radar though.
 
Not when they don't understand that white stuff on the road means it's slippy and you should slow down.
 
I don't believe gender matters. Take 1000 random people, mixed gender. They'll be some good drivers, some bad. Simple.

Ant.
 
Going to sound incredibly sexist here, but I don't feel safe in a car driven by a female. I don't feel safe in a passenger seat of anyone's car but women really make me nervous, either that or my string of ex's just can't drive
 
Going to sound incredibly sexist here, but I don't feel safe in a car driven by a female. I don't feel safe in a passenger seat of anyone's car but women really make me nervous, either that or my string of ex's just can't drive

Having had the privilege of being driven by louise aitkin walker, Paula Cook and Sabine Schmitz I have no problem with women drivers.

Both SWMBO and JSWMBO are both excellent drivers with advanced driving qualifications. JSWMBO was doing speeds most people only ever get to dream of when she was 14 and can lap donnington faster than me.
 
It's a given that we on this forum are probably motoring enthusiasts. The bulk of the population, men and women are not.

The bulk of the pop. are lemmings. They care little about driving and the rules surrounding it. Women probably aren't as good as men...but the bar isn't set very high in the first place.
 
flango said:
Having had the privilege of being driven by louise aitkin walker, Paula Cook and Sabine Schmitz I have no problem with women drivers. Both SWMBO and JSWMBO are both excellent drivers with advanced driving qualifications. JSWMBO was doing speeds most people only ever get to dream of when she was 14 and can lap donnington faster than me.

I've been in situations where I've questioned the driving examiners judgement as to how they passed in the first place, holding on to the roof handle with dear life. Driving down the wrong way, generally panicking and nearly crashing. Maybe I need to question my taste of women! I find it improves with age, 23-26 year olds can't drive, a little older than that and they seem to be able to drive safely without killing me
 
"woman, with children, aged between 46 and 50, living in East Anglia, working as a software engineer and driving a two or three-year-old red Honda automatic"

Can't be many of them either in actual numbers or even statistically speaking, given the tight parameters.

The statistics are likely skewed towards those who do few miles and drive in areas with low vehicle density. All this does is show that statistics can 'prove' anything….I seem to recollect a saying about statistics.
 
I've been in situations where I've questioned the driving examiners judgement as to how they passed in the first place, holding on to the roof handle with dear life. Driving down the wrong way, generally panicking and nearly crashing. Maybe I need to question my taste of women! I find it improves with age, 23-26 year olds can't drive, a little older than that and they seem to be able to drive safely without killing me

Ive been there too with both sexes. Taught some very talented teenagers, corrected some hopeless police drivers and been taught by some of the best in the business.

The only common denominator is all our abilities, reaction speeds and sight deteriorate with age.
 
In this sense, the definition of a better driver is one who is less erratic, slower at accelerating and slower at braking. Slowing braking means you have more time to brake or you are going at a slower speed in the first place. If you have more time to brake then you have better road awareness ahead of you in this theory.

OK, translate that to reality and it is not necessarily about skill level but less risk to have accident.

An example in point. I did a two hour trip from Bristol to Surrey (mixture of motorways, A and B roads). I look well ahead of me and brake as little as possible. My sister did the same trip in my car when I lent it to her. Trip computer says she did more MPG than me. I was surprised at first but then it occurred to me that she drives more slowly (less likely to speed) and she is slower at accelerating than me. Does it mean she is a better driver? She is definitely a less risky driver than me so more insurance friendly. She says I am a better driver than her, because she is less confident and was surprised how far ahead I look. For example, half mile ahead on a motorway, if a lot of cars' brake lights start coming on then I prepare to slow down; if approaching a roundabout 400 metres ahead from a fast road I look to see how many cars to wait before joining the roundabout; on a traffic light cross-road, are the lights about to change or is crossing traffic still flowing fast which means a while before the lights change.

Overall, I am more risky and have had more incidents than she has.
 
Women are better drivers than men, says new survey

Interesting article based on telematic data available.

What piqued my interest, though, is this statement.



Firstly, if the woman had children aged between 46 and 50, that would make her late 60's onwards. Considering how many people on this forum think the over 70's should be retested, it's ironic that Admiral think that an elderly lady would make a safe driver. Mind you, if she drives a Honda and still holds down full time employment as a software engineer, then she gets my vote.

Now I know that some of you are going to say that her age should be 46 to 50, and that I am reading it wrong, but it reads exactly as I have seen it. Just goes to show that any illiterate hack can become a journalist.

When conveying a message using the written word, we need to be explicit. Ambiguity just won't do, will it?

Mind you, a few commas would have helped.



That might make more sense.

As for the rest of the article, do you believe women make better drivers than men? Or are they just less adventurous than us machos.

How do you define a better driver? What determines ability, when it is difficult or impossible to measure. After all, we each have an opinion on what is safe and what is not, and what is courteous and what is not.

If the linked article's lead photograph is to be believed - it is attractive young brunettes who drive Rally Yellow air cooled Beetles !
 
As usual the overall statistic may not convey adequate information. In young male drivers testosterone is undeniably a factor leading to aggression, competitiveness and a propensity towards risk taking. As these factors wane in middle age male drivers become safer. Women don't have the same hormonal chemistry meaning for example they are better multitaskers but this strength developed for child rearing may count against them in driving situations where full concentration on a single task may be a more desirable. I would suggest these factors are basically psychological rather than any manual dexterity skill required to control the car.
 
********

Damn censor! :D
 
All I can add is the consistently worst drivers I come across time and time again are women driving people carriers.
 
I worry that 2 tonne 4WD vehicles with 57 airbags instil a sense of invincibility in the driver that far exceeds the drivers ability and that makes for a more dangerous vehicle to other road users. In my locale many Chelsea tractors are driven with arrogance and incompetence in equal measure.
 
Worst for Tailgating :crazy:

And the rest! :D

The number of times I'm behind a vehicle and it decides to cut across as many lanes as it can on a roundabout is unreal. Also driver cutting across lanes in general is becoming a daily occurrence. After venting my anger verbally my wife usually says 'it's not a he, it's a she' :wallbash:
 

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