Women vs Men Drivers: Come on, we all know who's the better driver. Poll.

In My Humble Opinion
21

To Zoe,

Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s safe. Did you know that slow driving is the number 1 cause of auto accidents? Did you know that you can get a ticket for NOT going with the flow of traffic, even if the flow is OVER the speed limit? Cops don’t usually issue tickets for this, but they can, especially if you are impeding traffic. It’s just one of those tickets that lets a pissed off cop blow off steam. And he usually uses it to punish the innocent, not the guilty. I got a ticket for this once. Blasted cop, I was trying to go around the slow driver and I got the ticket, not for reckless driving but for impeding traffic! The cop was right there. HE knew who was impeding traffic. Just because I went around.

You know what I think? Men get into accidents because of Women. Not for checking out the Women but because one Woman’s bad driving causes some other Man to act dangerously. Just a theory of mine. No need to argue with me about it. I know it’s dumb. Disregard it if you must.
But I can’t understand why men’s insurance rates are higher. I know it’s based on statistics, but Men, in general DO drive better than Women. The only thing I can think of is that Men drive more OFTEN than Women. When a family drives, it’s usually the man that drives. Men usually drive on the date. Plus Men have a love affair with their cars. More Men drive for the love of driving than Women. You get the idea. Men drive more.
The point is that just because a gender might get into more accidents doesn’t mean that they don’t know how to drive. And that is the point of the OP. Men can handle a car better than Women, in general. Not always, but in general. Men, in general, are more aware of their surroundings and can adapt more quickly to threats and changing conditions. Some Women excel at this but not many. Women might be able to tell you every word on that sign, but the guy is more likely capable of glancing at the sign quickly, recognizing the important word in the sign enough to realize that he is about to miss his exit, then check for traffic on the side, check the rear view mirror for tailgaters, flip the blinker on, step on the brake/gas, turn the wheel and safely merge into the crowded lane to exit the freeway, all in about 3/4 of a second. This might sound dangerous to you, but Men are less likely to be afraid of these types of situations and are more likely to act on the spot when it’s appropriate. Maybe the above example is one example of how Men can be more dangerous than Women, but I think of it as an example of how Men aren’t AFRAID to drive. Usually the ability to react quickly AVOIDS the accident. It doesn’t CAUSE the accident. In fact the more capable you are at reacting to sudden situations the LESS likely you are to get into a car accident. People who are afraid of reacting freeze when the accident comes. Both sexes do this I’m sure, but I’ll bet it happens much less frequently with Men.

I can’t tell you how many accidents I have avoided in the last YEAR on my ONE MILE DRIVE home. Every day I drive around a crowded corner that has people coming at me from 4 directions trying to get onto the freeway. I don’t go on the freeway. But I have to go through this traffic jamb every day. Every week, just after I pass the crowd and start to speed up, some fool just assumes that I want to shoot over the 3 lanes to jump onto the freeway, so he/she pulls out in front of me, thinking (s)he’s going to ride my coat tails onto the freeway. Then I have about 50 FEET to react. (S)he’ll realize (s)he screwed up then (s)he’ll slam his/her brakes on and stop dead in the middle of the street, rather than hitting the gas to get out of my way. (See? (S)he froze when (s)he should have reacted.) So preventing the accident all falls to me. I have to check the side for traffic, flip my blinker on (I ALWAYS use my turn signal. I hate those jerks.), then I have to swerve around him/her, (all one handed because I have my hand on the horn the whole time). I’ve gotten pretty good at this. (If you jinxed me I’m coming to get you. :D)

Also, chaos theory dictates that an average 30 minute drive can be lengthened by 10 minutes by just missing one light, which can be caused by one driver driving 1 mph too slowly. You miss that one light, that’s 1-2 minutes. But what inevidably happens when you miss one light? You miss the next, then the next, then the next, then the next. On my “30 minute drives” I either get stopped by one light or 10. Never 7, never 5, never 3. If I make that first light, I can make them all. If I get stopped by them all then I have a better chance of getting stopped by that train. Or I get stuck behind the accident that just happened. Or traffic bunches up during that 10 minutes. So my trips either take 30 minutes, or 40 minutes. Not depending on traffic, but depending on whether I made that first light. 3 seconds at the beginning of my trip made me arrive at my destination 10 minutes later. This is chaos theory (chaos law IMHO).

Naturally you shouldn’t drive dangerously. But it can be just as dangerous to drive slower than the flow than faster than the flow. And this isn’t speaking of road rage. Slow drivers cause more road rage than any other type of driver.
Driving according to the rules of the road all the time should only be for people who don’t know how to drive. I have always believed that if you understand the rule (any rule not just driving) and you can determine with confidence when the rule is appropriate, then you may break the rule when not appropriate, especially if you apply a margin of safety to when you decide a rule isn’t appropriate. (This rule breaking thing is one thing I love about my profession - Architecture. Appropriate rule breaking in Architecture, or any art, is applauded.) An empty freeway at 3:00AM is a perfect time to drive 80mph. It’s perfectly safe. Far safer than driving 50mph at 8:30AM. It’s even safe to run a red light, as long as you come to a stop before you go through it. And of course as long as there is no traffic. I don’t do it, but I still think it’s safe.

Anyway, things to think about. Sorry about the sermon. Why do the messages look so much shorter when you write them?

**X~Slayer(ALE)**You cracked me up. Great story. Typical of Women, right? :smiley:

22

And is that your “humble” opinion? :slight_smile:

Seriously, I doubt that there is really much difference at all in men and women drivers after the boys grow up. I don’t stereotype men and women very much. And I did notice that you are considerate enough to stress that what you were saying is not always true.

I do agree with you that slow drivers can be dangerous and cause accidents. But somone who is doing the speed limit is not a slow driver. In my state you are never given a ticket for going the speed limit no matter how fast everyone else is driving. What states do? I can’t imagine two opposing laws.

As more and more lights become synchronized for optimum driving speeds, your chaos theory won’t work. That’s because if you miss a green light, you will be first in line when the light changes to green again.

Driving fast really doesn’t save you as much time as you might think. I’ve seen information on it but that was long ago. Maybe someone who understands math can tell us how much time is saved by going 75 miles an hour for 100 miles as opposed to going 55 miles an hour.

And I do agree with you that sometimes it is necessary to break the rules. If someone is coming down the wrong side of the highway, it would be the cool thing to get out of her or his way.

Take care though. Driving on a freeway at 3:00 a.m. is not always safe.

23

Yes, my humble opinion. Glad you saw that.

That’s not true, you are forgetting the purpose of lights. It’s to allow only drivers moving in two or more directions to enter through an intersection. While I am waiting others are going through. They will be stopped by the light. The traffic isn’t clear of the lights until about 10 seconds before the light turns red. If you just make the light you can just make them all. If you miss one, you get stuck behind traffic from all of them. Traffic when I (used to) drive to work gets progressively worse the longer you are in it. Until around 10:00 am and 6:00 pm. Then it progressively gets thinner. But when it matters, the later you are the heavier the traffic. The more slowpokes (driving next to each other!!!) you have to navigate around the worse the traffic gets. It is true that properly timed lights would certainly improve this, but with heavier traffic, it won’t. Of course with heavier traffic none of this matters. You have to go the same speed as every body else anyway. Anyway, synchronizing the lights will only minimize chaos theory, not negate it. You can still get stuck behind someone driving 10mph slower than everybody else, even in moderately heavy traffic. I get that every time I drive to the grocery store. And what city cares enough to synchronize their traffic signals anyway? I don’t know of any. If anything, they are progressively getting WORSE in Houston, with all the construction. I do remember hearing one mayoral candidate mention that he would synchronize the lights. He’s definately got my vote.

About the higher speeds not saving you time. Some things work better on paper than in reality. I can tell you from personal experience that, as long as traffic isn’t too bad, speeding will get you there faster. I recently went to Galveston. I drove 80 mph, sometimes 85. It took me 50 minutes. Others drove 65. It took them an hour and 10 minutes. That’s a significant savings in time.

Aside from that. Thank you for your comments. I’m glad that you can read between the lines and see that I’m not trying to be too critical or preachy.

Yeah, and I know how dangerous it can be driving at 3:00 am. Those cops love to stake out the highways early in the morning. :smiley:

[size]BTW. All this frustration with bad drivers is the main reason I moved one mile from work. I used to be even closer (to my old job). I was able to walk to work. It took me less time to walk than to drive. Now that’s close. Now I have to drive cause we never know when we’ll have to leave the office. When I used to hop the fence to go to work, I could just go home to get my car. Now it would take me 15-20 minutes to walk. But at least it’s only a mile. I only have one spot that’s barely even close to bad. And there are lots of ways to go around it.[/size]

24

Prisoner – Now, really…What did you do with those twenty minutes you saved?

Ah-oh. Be careful or you will develop the dreaded “Type A Behaviors”!

http://www.msnbc.com/onair/nbc/nightlynews/stress/

You aren’t arrogant enough though so there is still a chance for you! But you might want to take the test…

Don’t you know about Feeling Groovy? “Slow down you move to fast; gotta make the morning last…” – Simon and Garfunkle

Okay, that’s the end of my lecture. You may now resume your normal speed. :wink:

25

Mr Goo is quite a good driver. He does over 50 000 kms a year, so he’d want to be.
He tells me I’m a reasonably good driver too.

Both of us are defensive drivers in suburbia, but speed on freeways. We share the driving if we’re going somewhere together. Neither of us have been in ‘at-fault’ accidents for the last five years. I think our differing driving styles are solely due to our personalities and the way we were taught to drive, not our genetalia or chromosomes. Our styles aren’t too different, anyway.

26

**Disclaimer ->much swearing and depravity to follow.

If you were to meet my wife, you’d probably think she’s a a nice woman, never capable of a swear, or unkind act. Sometimes I think the very same things. However, you do not have to drive with her. Sometimes whilst driving I have heard these things uttered from her oh so cute lips.
“FUCK PIG, MOTHER FUCKER!!![sub]cut me off again ya fuck[/sub]”

“Fuck you asshole!! flipped double bird mother fucker”

“Oh you fucking did not fucking cut me off c*nt rag” :eek:

the double bird flipping and F-Bombs are a norm in our car. I can not seem to break her of the road rage. We used to live in Phoenix, and she had to quell her rage or get shot. Those in the west know what I mean. So I think it is all those years of quelling her instinctual swearing to unworthy drivers that fuels her rage.

It’s like an epiphany watching her cuss someone out one second then return to her normal conversation, kinda like this:

“FUCK YOU MOTHER FUCKING ASSHOLE!!!” oh yes honey i like the blue sheets more than the mauve. do you want ice cream tonight?

27

:smiley: :smiley:
Phlosphr, that sounds exactly like me, LOL
I cuss people out when they cut me off, tailgait me, etc., then go right back to singing with the radio or normal conversation

28

What I find most amusing is that most of the women I’ve spoken with about this (since yesterday, admittedly) were taught to drive by men. Hm. Any thoughts, Prisoner ?

29

A few points zoe. Although driving the limit won’t get you a ticket normally, the main factor here would be that you’re doing the limit in the right lane and not interfering with traffic on the passing lane (if your state has left lane laws). You can get a ticket if you’re in the left lane, doing the limit, but having 50 cars pass on your right.

“Green wave” lights (as I’ve heard they’re called" are very rare. I know of only 1 street in Toronto that has this setup. Traffic lights around here are just random light systems that screw up traffic.

Also, on your question, 100 miles at 75 mph would take you 1.3 hours (80 minutes). 100 miles at 55 mph would take you 1.9-ish hours or about 110 minutes. Maybe your life is really relaxed and laid back, but for me saving even 15 minutes is worth it.

For me, if traffic backs up (normally due to slow trucks, but cars can also cause problems) then my normal optimal transit time of 20 minutes (about 25 miles one way all at very high speeds) takes about 1 hour. I normally make it to work in about 35 minutes with some low speed (under 25 mph) driving mixed in with super high speed safe driving (over 100 mph). And keep in mind I have never been in an accident or even been close to losing control. Also, my car is new and it’s a sport wagon :smiley:

I don’t blame women in general for their lack of driving skills (mostly apparent in parking skills, nothing major) but it does piss me off that I have to pay an extra $100 a month in insurance just because I’m a guy, 25, and owns a new sportish car (Toyota Matrix XRS).

30

Not really. But it could be used to confirm the belief that men are better drivers. Who better to learn from than someone who knows the lesson well. I’m not sure if this is a good argument though. It goes along better with my theory that Men drive more often than Women. Men have more experience. Who do you want to learn from? Someone with a lot of experience. There are also probably more male driving instructors. Just a guess but it seems to make sense since Men love cars and enjoy driving just for the sake of it. Men also love teaching about things that they enjoy. It’s a lot easier, and more fun, to learn from someone who enjoys what (s)he’s teaching.

Oh, we have the “green wave” lights on occasion. But they are rare. Then some road construction will happen in the middle and the timing will get messed up and they won’t fix it. You’ll get a red light right between all of those green lights. The lights in are downtown Houston are certainly synchronized. It’s a lot easier to synchronize lights on a 1 way street. Ours are set at 22 mph, if I remember correctly. Drive 22mph and you’ll make all the lights, as long as the traffic isn’t too bad. I don’t go downtown when traffic is bad so I always get those lights. 22mph is pretty freaking slow but it is a pedestrian congested area so I understand. And since you don’t stop it seems like you are flying. You can drive from one end of Downtown to the other in about 5 minutes. (Downtown Houston is pretty small, relatively speaking. We have SEVERAL main areas: Downtown, Galleria, Greenway Plaza, Medical Center, etc. The only one synched is downtown.)

[hijack]
To Zoe,
According to that website I am definately not “type A”. I don’t exhibit any of those symptoms, but one. The only thing that might put me in that category is that time is on my mind, when I’m not at home relaxing. Some people (like my Dad) use money as a basis for comparing things. “It’s going to cost me $3 to water my lawn.” But for me it’s time. “It’s going to take me 2 hours to water my lawn.” I do get frustrated when some slowpoke costs me time, especially when he could easily move over, or not drive next to the other slow poke and let me pass. But I’m not type A.
[/hijack]

31

Now, now, children. Let’s get one thing straight. I’m a better driver than all of you. Everything else is commentary.

:wink: