But those are all statistics. Personally I think men in some ways in that they drive more vehicles thru more dangerous situations. However I find men, especially young men, do more dangerous things while driving. With women I find they tend to be more distracted like trying to do multiple things while driving. Also I find in bad weather men are smarter about slowing down and driving carefully while women are less apt to adjust their driving.
I think insurance companies have the biggest incentive to figure out who’s safer, and they vote carefully with their money. I also think good driving = safe driving plus getting to the destination, noting that the safest driving possible is no driving at all which shouldn’t count.
IIRC, men have better spacial awareness and better control over the vehicle. Men also drive faster and push things to the limit more, which means that despite being “better” drivers (in that they have better control over their vehicles) they are more likely than women to end up in an accident. Women, because they tend to drive more cautiously, tend to end up in fewer accidents, despite having worse spacial awareness and less fine control over their vehicles. Younger males are even more likely to take risks, which is why the 18 to 25 male pays out the wazoo for car insurance.
If you are pitting a large group of men vs. a large group of women on a challenging test track, the men are probably going to win. On the other hand, out in the real world, that same group of men is statistically more likely to end up in an accident.
This is all speaking in generalities, of course. There are some women who have excellent spacial awareness and excellent control over their vehicles, and some men who have poor spacial awareness and less control over their vehicles.
“Better” is not necessarily the same as “safer.” Women may be “safer” drivers, but they also may often do more annoying things, such as left-lane hogging.
Whenever I see a stupid driver and I finally get to pass them I just assume that it’s going to be a woman and I’ll probably even say something really rude and derogatory towards women drivers as we pass. Hopefully, the driver turns out to be a woman so I don’t look like an idiot.
One thing about women drivers is that since they’re shorter in general they tend to sit lower in the seat and can’t see potholes as quickly when they approach them. A man, sitting tall in his seat, will be able to see the potholes more quickly and react to them. This is one aspect that makes men safer drivers than women.
When I took a test on a driving course (closed course, it involved drinking) the very best driver, sober, was a guy, and he was the second-best when drunk. I was the second best, sober, and the best, drunk. Behind us were two women and two men and I believe the women did better than the men when they were all sober and the men did better when they were all drunk, but the first guy and I did better than all of them even when they were sober and we were drunk. (We were not all that drunk. My drunk score suffered because I slowed down a bit. I still didn’t hit anything. Same for the top guy, I think. Other people hit stuff left and right.)
My experience is that men are nervier and in general exhibit more mastery of their vehicles, but because they are taking more chance (and probably driving more miles), they lose out. Also it seems to me that men are more likely to be stupid and macho about knowing when they should or should not get behind the wheel. (“I can drive through that snowstorm, no problem.” “I can four-wheel up this vertical muddy mountain, no problem.” “I only had six beers, no problem.”)
Also I resent this bit about women “tending” to sit lower in the seat because you’re shorter. You don’t exactly have a choice in this, you know. If you’re shorter, you are going to sit lower in the seat.