Women Are ‘Better’ Drivers, Says New Study

Women have been trolled for their driving skills, for as long as cars have been on roads. An age-old myth about women being bad drivers has finally been broken.

A new UK study has quashed the motoring gender divide with conclusive evidence that women are actually better drivers than men. The findings were published by Confused.com. The figures indicate that though women take slightly longer to learn to drive, they are more reliable behind the wheels. This is because women tend to commit fewer motoring offences. Also, women have fewer accidents and cost insurers less when they do make a claim as compared to men.

The research considered three aspects -- insurance, crime and driving test statistics to throw light on the age-old debate.

Breaking Laws

The data was collected from Ministry of Justice, the DVLA and Confused’s own records. According to figures, men are four times more likely to break the law and commit a motoring offence than women.

In 2017, more than 585,000 drivers in England and Wales were taken to court for breaking the law on the road. Of this, 79 per cent were men.

Men are mostly guilty of speeding, drink-driving offences and driving without tax or insurance. When compared, the percentage of women in the same lines is almost half of the number of guilty male drivers

Claiming Car Insurance

Since, men break laws frequently, it is no surprise that they apply for more car insurance claims. The disparity is visibly noticeable in figures.

Men made 65 per cent insurance claims in 2017, of which 17 per cent represented incidents where the claimant was at fault. On the other hand, women made 35 per cent claims, but merely 9 per cent were at fault.

Also, when men claim their bills, it tends to be more expensive. A man’s average claim stands at £3,271, as compared to £3,121 for an average woman.

Gender Pay Disparity

The researchers say that the data explains why men still pay more for their insurance. In 2012, the EU Gender Directive outlawed rating drivers solely on their gender.

According to the authors, the insurers have had to become cleverer about how they analyze the risk of a driver making a claim. They refrained from relying on gender as a default.

Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com, says: “As a female racing driver, I know women can hold their own when it comes to driving, and data suggests that they are in fact safer on the roads."

“This is reflected in the fact that they are paying almost £100 less for their premiums. And this could be down to the fact that more men committed more motoring offences in comparison to women. Not only this, but they also often owned more expensive cars, which means claims are likely to be more expensive,” she adds.

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Megha Thadani is an Intern with Shethepeople.tv