Women are claimed to be the safest drivers on the road, but does anyone know if this is actually true?

Maureen from Driving School - nuff said

Hey, don't put us all in her category. I've been driving for 9 years now and never once had an accident. And no I don't drive a fiesta or a metro! Women naturally make better drivers because we can concentrate on a number of things at the same time, unlike men! Plus we generally don't get agressive behind the wheel. Thats why men become racing drivers!!

Women don't pay as much for insurance as men becuase companies see women as safer. Men driver quicker and more often and have much more serious crashes. Obviously the worst offenders are young men who drive stupidly fast in order to prove some sort of point. The penalty they pay is much higher car insurance. But don't think i'm moaning becuase being a younger women, i already save about 350 pounds from young mens mistakes! Keep it up boys, cause i'm loving the cheaper premiums!

All women drivers should be banned from the road

Certainly women are safe except the blond bimbos who are putting their make up on, fiddling with a cigarette, looking for postules on their face and driving boy racer cars.

Women are better drivers than men

I disagree that women are safer! Example; my mother has had 6 points on her license, yet I've never had any and I've driven GTi company cars! Plus I've never been at fault in any accident - my minor accidents; articulated truck turned across my path, van driver cut lanes/corner on dual lanes, rear shunt at T-junction. Major accident; other car fish-tailed into mine on country road on my side!

100% observations all around make someone a safer driver, as feel this helped save my life above, by looking ahead, not just at the car in front! Example of recent, I saw the ambulance approaching behind an oncoming bus on a road with cars parked either side, thus I stopped the traffic my direction so that the ambulance could overtake safely.

On a motorway too, if I'm doing 70mph (cruise set), it's the 3door Fiesta's, Pug 106's, Renault Clio's that tear past at 90mph with the small female driver's nose on the windscreen! With your seat that close to the steering wheel/airbag, in an accident at these speeds, the airbag will break your neck or force your head back so quickly that the non superficial brain damage sustained (your brain is like the yolk of an egg, its surrounded by fluid so it bumps into the skull in sudden similar/front to back movements - what Richard Hammond/TopGear presenter sustained) COULD KILL YOU!

The reply to this query depends on what is meant by safest driver? Men have fewer accidents than women but statistically, the accidents that men have are usually more serious.

Does this make them safer or not? It certainly cost an insurer more on average to provide cover for a man.

Insurers know that women will have more knocks and scrapes than a male driver but the payout once a male crashes will be bigger. Therefore they tend to penalise males who they believe are going to be most likely to be a danger to themselves. High performance cars, high risk occupations, higher mileage drivers, drivers with claims and convictions are all going to pay dear.

Many of us could be forgiven for thinking that women get cheap insurance by going to a women only insurer. Not so! Many women only insurers still refuse to insure women with convictions, claaims, high performance cars, risky occupations and those who live in high risk areas!

It is important to shop around in every case and compare as many insurers as possible before chosing to buy. Here is a fun game, why not input all your details into our insurance quote system as both a man and then a woman and see what a difference you find. I would be very interested to see the results talked about here in this thread?.....

Cool idea, Richard.

I might try it when I get home; it would be interesting.

I have not chosen a women-only car insurer; I am with Budget and used the search tools here to get the quote. It saved me a fortune and with Euro driving thrown in for free! Diamond and Sheila's Wheels (love their ad campaign) couldn't get anywhere near the quote I finally accepted.

Cat

^^^ good answer! ^^^

Red rag to a bull this thread...
I'm not suggesting i know any answers here, merely proposing further questions...

I think account also needs to be taken of the circumstances of driving...
Is there an even correlation across the genders of, say, motorway mileage per year?
How about mileage alone in the car, against sharing a car with other adults, against in the car with children?
Not wishing to appear sexist here (heaven forbid) but i think a macro view of the above would go some way to explaining Richard's point that men have fewer but more serious accidents, whereas women tend to have more bumps and scrapes.
I'm not sure these stats could (or should) be reflected in premium charges however, but it's an interesting one to ponder.

I'm a biker myself, so this is a topic close to my heart...
In almost 20 years on a bike, the only type of incidents I've been involved in have been low-speed, self-inflicted & did not involve any 3rd parties (touch formica).

FWIW though, in my opinion idiocy behind the wheel makes no gender distinction...

Roger Irrelevant:idiocy behind the wheel makes no gender distinction...

I completely agree.

I do think that mileage makes a big difference too. I passed my test just after my 18th birthday and, living in a remote village, my car was my lifeline - without it I would have had no social life (and, with it, I grew up almost teetotal - I was always driving)!! As a result, I've probably clocked some pretty impressive miles in comparison to some who didn't go to university miles away from home, etc, etc, etc.

Children in the car also makes a difference. No matter that I wouldn't - as a mum of four - want any prejudice against those of us with kids, I have to admit that they can be distracting in the extreme. My car is fitted with a special mirror that enables me to see them without turning round, and we have rules about their conduct in the car, but, even so......

I don't, however, see how all these kinds of factors could be realistically taken into account - I mean, who knows their actual total mileage and level of driving experience? But, perhaps, insurance is going to go that way - ever more sophisticated risk analysis until the insurance industry causes it's own demise by being unwilling to accept anyone!!!

Hmmmmmmm!!

Cat

meh... by then we'll all have Blake's 7 bracelets anyway...
mine's on order from Currys...

Richard? I tried it, and guess what?

The two quotes were the same!!!

Bang goes that theory then. Or maybe it is my age? Maybe after a certain age we are all considered to be equally sensible? Or equally stupid...........

Cat

I really don't think you can put the insurance in to a male/ female catagory, i have been driving a car for 11 years and a truck for 6. I have never had an accident my fault but been done for speeding 3 times. My wife has been driving for 3 years and had 3 accidents, 2 her fault 1 by a young lad who hit her. The 2 her fault was where she was rushed in a situation. I think they should go on your driving history and catagourse cars better which would help things. I have a MPV as we have 3 children (which decreased our quote as we have depends having kids dont mean you won't crash) and it is a turbo diesel, It is not a fast car but an ugly car but insurance is higher because it is classed as a turbo charged vehcile. the whole situation should be changed