Re Article in March / April edition: Unsafe sex?

[jagnut66]

Hi,
I feel I must respond to this article, which basically says that statistically men are worse drivers than women:
Over the last eight months I have had three rear end shunts in my Minor and on each occasion the person who drove into the back of me was a woman!! (Sorry girls)
On each occasion I was either stopped in a traffic queue or at a road junction so fortunately for both myself and my Minor it was a low speed impact.
What I found really incredulous though was the comments from the women concerned in the first two accidents, stating quite categorically that 'they had never had an accident in 20 / 10 years of driving' respectively!! (I have to say that my one thought on each occasion was 'you have now!!'........ but I kept that to myself....)
Now I'm no saint and we've all had an accident at some point, regardless of gender, so I guess my point is that in reality I can't see that one is any better than the other. (And that anyone who thinks they are perfect / better than others is either deluded or heading for a fall, like these two!)
To balance things up a little though the last lady was really apologetic.
I have now fitted high level brake / tail lights..............
Mike.

[PSL184]

I'm not convinced women have "fewer" accidents either but maybe they are lesser risk takers and therefore have "less costly" accidents. I watched a woman park a Peugeot 306 yesterday and after hitting the kerb and scraping her wheel on the nearside moved over to the right and backed into the wheel arch of the car in the adjacent parking spot. Tou could have got a bus into the space she was aiming for !!!

[LouiseM]

Well to balance out the comments for those that haven't read the article in the current edition of Minor Matters, it was quoting from an analysis of 2009 government road safety statistics carried out recently by the AA. The figures showed that:

Men are involved in 63% of reported road accidents and women only 37%
Male drivers greatly outnumber women in terms of driving convictions, the vast majority of which are for speeding
Men are more than twice as likely as women to have a drink driving conviction
There are more than twice as many road casualties amongst young men as amongst young women

The report doesn't conclude that men are 'worse' drivers than women, it is just an analysis of specific statistics which conclude, from the information analysed, that women are safer drivers. I'm sure we've all got stories that go against the above statistics.

we've all had an accident at some point, regardless of gender

Well I haven't yet, touch wood, but there are certainly a lot of dangerous drivers about on the roads (of both sexes) so those are the ones you need to watch out for!

[KatiePotatie]

I am concerned this may turn into a 'women are better, no, men are better!', slanging match.

As a pedestrian, I have almost been hit by both male & female drivers, and I don't think that it's a case of what sex you are that makes you a cruddy driver, it's just the fact that some people out there just should be allowed on the road, men or women!

The fact remains that there are still idiots on the road, like LouiseM says, it's those we have to watch out for!!

And that is my twopenneth!

[Matt Tomkins]

What annoys me, even as a 17 year old male, is that - contrary to the governments review - this apparent sexism is nothing of the sort -- it is, simply, basic statistical analysis.

[bmcecosse]

The rear-ending does however highlight the fact that Minor brake lights are quite low mounted, and sometimes not very bright - especially in bright sunlight - and so those who use their cars 'daily' should probably consider adding a high level brake light. I note the OP has now done so!

[phurn]

I read a good report a few weeks back, basically it said women were involved in a lot more accidents at round abouts, through poor lane discipline and shunting,.they also have more negligible damage to their cars from parking. But men have more expensive damage, and are involved in a lot more head on collisions through bad overtaking/ general cockiness. They're also a lot more likely to speed. Though I argue speed alone isn't dangerous,. It's use of speed that's the problem.

[rayofleamington]

it is just an analysis of specific statistics which conclude, from the information analysed, that women are safer drivers.

That's the problem with so many male/female statistics - the way they are used is more 'abuse'of statistics than 'use'.
I'm not disputing the statistics that show recorded speeding penalties or drink driving is higher in males.
To me the concept of 'safer driver' means that mile per mile, one driver has a lower probablility of accident than another - these statistics show nothing of the sort, as they are done by number of drivers and not by number of miles. If you factor in the number of driver-failed-to-report carpark collissions and which carparks these come from then the picture would be even more clear.

Speeding has been shown as statistically one of the less likely causes of accidents..
Drink driving on the other hand is far more dangerous yet gets only about the same level of priority as speeding.
Driving tired and/or not concentrating is by far the highest factor causing crashes injuries and fatalities - yet the authorities appear to be much more interested in road tax evasion.

[barrie102]

Statistics. I assume the proportion Men/Women was derived from total no of reported accidents.
Balance this by the respective numbers of Male /Female drivers on the road at the time and the figures will probably look better for Men and a lot worse for women.
Unless I am incorrect and women drivers outnumber men(I think not).
We all have good and bad days behind the wheel and as previously mentioned lose concentration through tiredness etc.
I don't believe we should be 'going there' with this subject. Too emotive and beneath the level of the majority of Minor drivers.

Another point mentioned re High level Brake lights I have a traveller and consider the modification well worthwhile and reassuring.

ends...........

[Alex'n'Ane]

I agree women crash more, but low speed.. men do it properly.

[d_harris]

I've read before that the number of accidents between the genders are roughly comparible but that men tend to have bigger, more expensive shunts. Women tend to have smaller, less costly accidents (Including more of the type that get settled without the involvment of insurance)

Basicly, both genders have accidents but it seems that men do a better job of it

I do agree with Ray though, its the CAUSE of the accidents that should be analysed and dealt with rather than isolating a paticular group of drivers, be that gender, age, ethnicity etc. I for one would be very very happy indeed to see a nil tolerance approach to drink driving (any trace in your system, license gone - no excuse)

[Matt Tomkins]

I for one would be very very happy indeed to see a nil tolerance approach to drink driving (any trace in your system, license gone - no excuse)

MAKE THAT TWO OF US!
there's a starling statistic that, even at the legal limit, you're something like 10x more likely to be involved in an accident than when sober.
i simply can't tolerate it and, for one, could never live with myself if i had an accident in which someone was injured or worse, and i'd had a drink - even legally. i would constantly doubt myself and wonder whether i could have avoided that accident if i had been 100% sober

[neilchadburn]

I can confirm women do have accidents, we had planned to have just one baby, then we had a surprise baby, so yep they definitely happen!

[xpress]

naughty ladies!

[don58van]

My contribution is not about which gender is safer but this comment, which I can't allow to go without comment:

Speeding has been shown as statistically one of the less likely causes of accidents..
Drink driving on the other hand is far more dangerous yet gets only about the same level of priority as speeding.

Speeding may not be the main cause of all crashes, but it is the main cause of severe crashes (those involving death and injury). It is confusion about this point that causes so much misunderstanding about the role of speed in road crash statistics. The underlying explanation is that the laws of physics dictate that for each small increase in speed, the energy that is released in a crash increases more than proportionally.

I have been a road safety specialist for over 30 years, and I can assure club members that speeding is the main cause of death and injury on the roads. One of the reasons drink driving is such a severe problem is that drink-drivers often speed.

Safe driving!
Don

[rayofleamington]

but it is the main cause of severe crashes (those involving death and injury).

The statistics I remember in recent years quote speeding as a main factor in ~25% of road deaths.
I'd be interested to see the actual ROSPA statistics detailed against all road deaths. For those that have access to the real numbers, it's not flagging up speeding on its own as a major cause.
http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/anything ... 39948.aspx

10 minutes on google found me 26% many times (pretty close to the 25% I remembered) - from official DfT statistics.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article653569.ece

Certainly 'innappropriate speeding" is going to add major risk. 80mph on an empty motorway at 3am in the dry is likely to be less of a safety risk than doing 30mph in the wet near a school at 3:45pm..