Women Drivers

Are women drivers worse than men drivers?

I had an excellent education on the merits of women drivers from an early age.  I also found out very early in life that there were some very expressive words which my father used daily, that I was not allowed to say.

I also lean towards being a feminist.

I think it started at the same time as my education on women drivers.

My father, may he rest in peace, was not the most patient of men.   He drove me to school each morning on his way to work.

Whenever another driver did something that my father considered wrong / inconsiderate / stupid / breaking the law / (fill in your own word), he would shout loudly and expressively  and gesticulate madly.

But it was women drivers who received his most vicious scorn.

Most of the time, his comments wafted over me, and I thought about the usual kid stuff instead.

Occasionally, I tried to mention that men were pretty bad drivers too.  He would snort at me in derision.

And once the daily commute was over, my father reverted to his normal placid self.

But one day, after a particularly vitriolic yell at some women drivers, I decided to act.

I waited until a male driver did something idiotic, and then said loudly “bloody men drivers!”.

The car swerved violently as my father reacted in horror.

The rest of the drive was conducted in silence.

The following day, my father again castigated another woman driver.  I bided my time, waited for the next expletive directed against a male, and again said “Bloody men drivers!”.

Never again did he single out women drivers.

(Well, not in my presence, anyway).

I suspect my father was not alone in his scorn towards women drivers.  In general, women drivers are regarded by many (including some women drivers themselves) as being inferior to men drivers.

That’s why I was interested to read about a study conducted in the UK recently by NCP (a company which supplies parking garages).    They studied 2,500 people, and showed that, contrary to popular belief, women parked much better than men.

Yet only 28% of women believed they were better parkers!

Interestingly, the study showed that men will happily choose a smaller parking space – even if a larger and easier one is available – when accompanied by a female passenger.

There was one area, though, where men excelled.  They parked more quickly than women drivers.

However, the speed aspect often worked in the favour of women drivers, as they spotted spaces  more easily, and took extra seconds to park much better.

So, I enjoyed reading this report by NCP as it supported my totally-NON-scientifically-proved opinion that women drivers aren’t worse than men.  And that’s good news for women everywhere.

And if women are more careful drivers in this regard, perhaps they are also more careful drivers in general, which would probably make them more eco friendly (use less fuel, do more car sharing etc) – but again, this is my NON-scientific view.

I shudder to think how my father would have reacted to women drivers holding onto the cell phone while driving!

Photo Credit: microsoft and microsoft / istockphoto