Beware of male drivers

Source: Breno Assis on Unsplash

IT’S OFFICIAL...WOMEN ARE SAFER DRIVERS THAN MEN

MEN may not like reading this but women are officially better behind the wheel.
 
They break speed limits less, brake less suddenly and avoid danger after dark by driving considerably less often at night than male motorists.
 
Overall, a team of experts has concluded, women are up to a fifth safer on the road. The verdict comes from the study of data from black box recorders in the vehicles of 19,000 motorists which were used to monitor more than 40 million journeys and 154 million miles of travel over four years.

Half the drivers were men and half were women. The research was carried out by car monitoring firm Wunelli, which analyses black box systems used by some insurance companies to set premiums. 

Their experts found women drive 28 per cent less at night than men, exceed speed limits 12 per cent less and brake hard 11 per cent less. 

The news comes a month before an EU gender directive becomes law, which will ban sex discrimination for insurance purposes.

Wunelli chairman Sandy Dunn said: “Motor insurance rates to date have been based on estimations, trends and averages gathered and analysed over many years. 

“When the EU gender directive comes into play, insurers will need to rely more heavily on the postcode of the driver and the car type being driven. For some women this won’t be a bad thing, but others could see their premiums rocketing. 

“Black box technology gives us a very clear picture of how the UK’s roads are used, from those where people speed the most to the cars least likely to have an accident.”
 
  
Vocabulary:
 
behind the wheel -
 
the speed limit -
 
to brake -
 
overall -
 
up to (a fifth) -
 
to carry out (research) -
 
insurance -
 
 to set (premiuims) -
 
to ban -
 
purposes -
 
a trend -
 
to gather (information) -
 
to come into play -
 
to rely on / reliable (adj) -
 
to rocket -
 
to speed -

 
So, is it true? Are women better drivers than men?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Of course we are!! I told you this last year when you had this interesting topic in the book LOL But I have to add someting: Spanish women are more aggressive driving... :-p

Majda
Graham said…
Be careful, Majda! I might tell your new teacher to use interesting topics like art, literature, history and politics. You amazed me with your knowledge last year. lol

I agree with you. Spanish women do drive aggressively.
Anonymous said…
Hello Graham, It's Patricia.
I agree with the article, I think women is better driving than men because we take our time for going to the places and not driving fast, and finally most of the accidents happens because of the speed. We are more prudent in conducting so that means that probably we drive better than men. However there are also too many women who drives very bad.
Finally, I think that depend on the case, there are many women who drives bad like there are many men who drives also bad.
Graham said…
Hi Patricia,

I think women are safer drivers as they take fewer risks than men. However, I reckon men find it easier to park than women.


I agree with the article. I think women are better at driving than men because we take our time going to places and don't drive fast. Most accidents happen because of speed. We are more cautious when driving, so that means that we probably drive better than men. However, there are also too many women who drive very bad.

Finally, every case is different. There are many women who drive badly like there are many men who also drive badly.
Anonymous said…
Hello Graham, It's Josue.

I agree with both but I have just read another article about this.
Nowadays There are more women driving and drive more than ever before. This survey shows that not only has to do with being male or female but the more confidence you have the weel, more risk
Are taken. I believe it is not a good news.We need to have more and better t raining and the children must have more hours a year to teach the dangers of the road.
Graham said…
Hi Josue,

Not so long ago it was hard to find a man who cried in public and a woman who was an aggressive driver. The difference between men and women in so many areas is disappearing.


I agree with you both but I have just read another article about this.
Nowadays there are more women driving and they drive more than ever before. This survey shows that it doesn't only have to do with being male or female but the more confident you are behind the wheel, the more risks are taken.

I don't think it is good news. We need to have more and better training and children must have more hours a year to learn about dangers on the road.