Insurance

Debunking the myths about women drivers

The battle of the sexes rumbles on . and on!

In his book 'Driving Passion: The Psychology of the Car', Dr. Peter Marsh claims that male drivers have a weakness for speed, racing, risk-taking, road rage, peer pressure and asking directions. Female drivers, he judges, are more prone to hesitate at T-junctions and roundabouts - plus have issues with parking, reversing and map-reading.

Fair comment? You decide. The fact is, over 15 million women* now drive and that's roughly half the drivers in the UK - and yet still have lower car insurance premiums.

That's why we've rounded up some of our favourite myths about women drivers - and put them to the test...

Truth or myth? Men are safer drivers

It's a myth. Or is it? We've found some interesting statistics that will keep fuelling the 'battle of the sexes'.

• In America, women drivers are a staggering 77% LESS likely to be killed in a car accident than men, based on miles driven**. >
• In the UK, cumulative insurance figures suggest that women drivers are involved in fewer accidents plus make fewer and smaller car insurance claims.
• According to the most recent Home Office figures, men commit around 85% of all serious motoring offences.***

* Vauxhall Motors Limited, Survey 2006
** TrafficSTATS 2007 by CSIR at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.
*** Home Office 2002, figures for England and Wales.

Truth or Myth? More men pass their driving test first time

It's a myth according to the Driver & Vehicle Testing Agency: the latest figures for 2007 show that 67.4% of women passed their driving test first time, compared to just 58% of men.

Sorry to rain on your parade boys!

Truth or myth? Men are better at reading maps

OK you've got us there. It's probably true.

• The University of Warwick crunched data from nearly 200,000 men and women looking at spatial awareness - an important part of map reading.
• The men outperformed women on tests such as mentally rotating objects and matching angles.
• Whereas the women outperformed the men in verbal dexterity and remembering the locations of objects.

The conclusion? Men may be better at map reading - but women are better at finding the car keys!