Today while out and about learning to drive, after we did the serpentine driving (going around a bunch of cones) and I managed to do it without knocking any aside he told me that I was in the top 20% of women drivers for that.*
He then explained that only about 20% of women drivers can do that without knocking about cones (80% who can’t), while it was about 80% of men who could.
I’m curious if this is even true, and if so why that might be.
[sub]*Don’t think he was pumping up my ego, he lets me know when I make mistakes and I know when I make mistakes but I’m not doing too badly for the most part. Just need to practice.[/sub]
I would love to see any real stats on this. I think it just myth. As a former cop and EMT, I have gone through EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operation Course) many times. I have not seen any real difference between men and women as to ability. We all screwed up on a regular basis. EVOC includes serpentine, (Both forward and backward) plus high speed collision avoidence, and the real bummer - backing a huge ambulance into a really tight spot. Female drivers did just as well, or better than male drivers in my experience. It is just ancedotal, but I attribute it to a less competetive spirit. The females were looking to pass the test, the males were going for beating the other guy, and frequently pushed things too far. In this case the only thing that mattered was accomplishing the goal. So the women won in my opinion. The best times went to males, but the highest success rate went to females.
WAG: could it simply be the height difference between men and women? Generally speaking, men will be taller, and better positioned to see the course a bit better?
Not so much an answer to your GQ, I guess, but an additional question: is height a variable controlled for in whatever study he’s talking about?