# Are women worse drivers (statistically)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 6, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364 "2011-02-06T04:21:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/1 "2011-02-06T04:21:11Z")
It’s a cliche to say that they are, but I’m curious if a dispassionate, unbiased analysis holds up this theory or not. Age should be accounted for as well, as I seem to vaguely recall hearing that insurance data showed young men getting into more accidents than young women but that the trend didn’t continue into adulthood. I could be totally wrong about that, though. Also, do countries that don’t let women drive have fewer accidents? I’m not sure how many (if any) countries meet that criterion, but I’m thinking Saudi Arabia at the very least. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/2 "2011-02-06T05:05:24Z")
I know what you’re getting at, but (opinion here), I don’t think women drivers (or old people) _cause_ accidents; they _provoke_ them. And there’s no data on that. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/3 "2011-02-06T05:13:14Z")
I’m sure men do more driving than woman since there are more men in the workforce and men are more likely to take jobs that require driving, so even if men are involved in accidents more than women are, women may still get in more accidents when time on the road is accounted for. ---
**Author:** ![Wogglebug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@Wogglebug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wogglebug)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/4 "2011-02-06T05:27:55Z")
I read that statistically, the most common thing women are cited for is right-of-way violations. And the most common thing men are cited for? Lol. Guess. What I found interesting, and my female relatives did not, is that what men are cited for is a deliberate violation, while … in my observation … many women treat right-of-way as a social function, not a fixed law. (E.g., waving, allowing another vehicle to allow it to have the right-of-way at an intersection. Since the right-of-way cannot be “given away” like that, it is, in fact, a violation.) Answering the topic, then, the question might be answered, in part, by answering whether women’s violations are more likely to cause accidents then men’s are. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/5 "2011-02-06T08:06:49Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Also, do countries that don’t let women drive have fewer accidents? With half as many drivers they’d almost have to have fewer accidents. ---
**Author:** ![NCDane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecccb3/32.png) [@NCDane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NCDane)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/6 "2011-02-06T08:14:43Z")
I cannot provide citation, but I have been reading since day one that women are much better drivers than men. Women may have proportionally more inconsequential small property damage accidents, but men proportionally cause many more of the really bad accidents where injury and death are involved. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/7 "2011-02-06T10:12:55Z")
Women don’t in general have as good reflexes as men. That’s why you don’t see female race drivers in nearly as great numbers as men. However, we are more likely to drive within our limits and not take stupid risks. That’s why women can get lower insurance rates than men. So - how do you define “worse driver”? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/8 "2011-02-06T10:41:31Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > With half as many drivers they’d almost have to have fewer accidents. They may have half as many drivers but they’re apparently driving more than twice as badly: [Saudi Road Accidents Highest in World, Report Says](http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/news/news79557.html) ---
**Author:** ![Lazy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc29f/32.png) [@Lazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/9 "2011-02-06T14:10:34Z")
The studies I can remember having seen reported, (for example [http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=788126](http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=788126)), say that men have more accidents even when calculated per mile driven, and those accidents are on average more serious than accidents women are in. Men are much more likely to drive aggressively or drunk. Of course, the difference in accident rates may well be due to differences in judgement rather than skill or raw ability (if that matters…) One statistic that popped out at me: in general, there is about one fatality per 100 million miles driven. Multiply that by 45 000 for young males driving a motorcycle at night. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/10 "2011-02-06T14:14:22Z")
I had heard that women are not as spatially aware as men. In other words, not as good at judging distances. And men are less temporally aware. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/11 "2011-02-06T15:04:46Z")
I think a darn good proxy for driving ability is insurance raes. Assuming there are no gender equality protection laws to the contrary, do insurance companies charge men & women of equal age and circumstance the same rates? I don’t know the answer to my question, but I think it if we can find it then we can answer the OP. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/12 "2011-02-06T15:59:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Assuming there are no gender equality protection laws to the contrary, do insurance companies charge men & women of equal age and circumstance the same rates? Heavens, no. My son, with a perfectly clean driving record, pays about 3 times the rate that my daughter does, who has a couple of accidents on her record. They have the exact same coverage for very similar cars. I believe it’s well established that insurance for young men is much more expensive until they turn 25 years old. ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/13 "2011-02-06T16:14:09Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I think a darn good proxy for driving ability is insurance raes. Assuming there are no gender equality protection laws to the contrary, do insurance companies charge men & women of equal age and circumstance the same rates? > > I don’t know the answer to my question, but I think it if we can find it then we can answer the OP. As has been mentioned, amount of time/distance driving would confound this. eg if young women typically have twice the accidents per mile, but only drive half as much, then their insurance rates might be the same. In the UK, there have been some experiments with per-mile insurance charges. those might be more useful. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/14 "2011-02-06T16:47:03Z")
I just googled this question and seem to have uncovered a whole heap of contradictory research, some suggesting women or worse, some suggesting men are. The definition seems to rely on what manner of tests have been carried out – [the University of London](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1574402/Women-and-gay-men-are-worst-drivers.html) concluded that women (and gay men) were worse, because they had poorer spatial awareness and navigational abilities, whereas the [Social Issies Resources Center](http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3148281&page=1) concluded in 2002: > [@](#): > > “In all studies and analyses, without exception, men have been shown to have a higher rate of crashes than women.” > > Men, the report claims, drive faster than women and have less regard for traffic laws: They speed, drive drunk, run stop signs, and therefore crash twice as often as women do. In the United States, men cause 71 percent of all road fatalities, a figure that’s remained constant since 1975. > > But don’t men drive many more miles than women do? Wouldn’t that account for some of the difference? It’s true that males account for 62 percent of all miles driven, versus 38 percent for females, but even after miles are clocked and driving hours are factored in, men still get into way more fatal accidents. And for the record, I’m a woman and I am \*brilliant \*at parking. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/15 "2011-02-06T16:53:04Z")
The good old gender distribution rears it’s head yet again. With this, as with most physical activities, it is likely the both the very worst and very best will be mostly male, hence the willingness of insurance companies to be be scared to death of young male drivers and the scarcity of female divers in such as F1 and WRC. etc. ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/16 "2011-02-06T16:58:10Z")
My wife is a better driver than I am…ask her. She says that the wife is always right. Yeah!:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![AshenLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@AshenLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AshenLady)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/17 "2011-02-06T17:08:34Z")
I believe that stats show that the very young and very old are the most dangerous drivers out on the road. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/18 "2011-02-06T17:25:13Z")
When I was a kid, the whole “woman driver” thing was an oft-used cliche. I haven’t heard anyone use it, even as a joke, in thirty years. I think that meme is pretty much dead. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/19 "2011-02-06T17:58:03Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > When I was a kid, the whole “woman driver” thing was an oft-used cliche. > > I haven’t heard anyone use it, even as a joke, in thirty years. > > I think that meme is pretty much dead. I disagree that it’s even remotely dead. For example: Not very long ago Tosh.0 had a thing where they’d get random women to parallel park. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364/20 "2011-02-06T18:30:52Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I know what you’re getting at, but (opinion here), I don’t think women drivers (or old people) _cause_ accidents; they _provoke_ them. Sorry - I’m slow. What do you mean by this? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-worse-drivers-statistically/570364.md?page=2)