Sure Women Are Worse Drivers...

...That's why they have fewer accidents, kill less people (including themselves) or visit the body repair section of the mechanic shops less frequently...

 

Maybe twenty years ago or more when women started learning to drive later than men or because they were a minority and somebody needed to be the butt of "bad driver" jokes or even just because society suggested that the men do all the driving, women might have been thought of as worse drivers.  Statistics (and insurance companies) will prove however that coming a close second to the world is flat lie, nothing is now further from the truth.  I will even dare say that one will find men who are equally bad drivers. 

Yeah I said it it!

Stereotypes are a heck of a thing and one would be surprised as to how much they influence our thinking and even how we socialise our children.  Boys go pick up the trash/leaves out in the yard while girls clean up inside; boys watch daddy and learn to change a flat, while girls watch mommy and learn to cook; boys go wash the car and girls go do the laundry...

Naturally these are mere stereotypes and some families are sensible enough to allow their kids to learn balanced duties while some, because of their make up, are forced into teaching the balance.  I believe however that 21st century families are doing a better job than their predecessors, which brings me back to my point that women are no worse drivers than men.

I know I have been guilty of these stereotypes too.  Every time I see a driver do something unnecessarily risky/foolish or bully another motorist I immediately think "that must be a man" or if I see someone being unnecessarily cautious I think "that must be a woman" and I'm usually very surprised if my supposition is wrong.  That reality solidifies my point that men and women are equally good/bad drivers and any other thought is a dated stereotype.  That's why you have female drivers in the Indy 500 and men whose speedometer scarcely goes over 70km/hour (even when nothing's wrong with their vehicle), women who are mechanics and men who'd be lost if it wasn't for the picture showing where wiper fluid should be poured. 

I know some people who would be quick to say that because of sheer numbers in their road presence men would seem to have more accidents; but if we start talking percentages men would still have more accidents, and if we worked off accidents alone men would earn the worse drivers award.  Bad driving however includes more than just accidents: it includes poor use of the road, not seeming to know the size of the vehicle being driven and as such not making proper judgements re passing/parking, not obeying speed limits or road signs/signals, being discourteous to other road users, ignorance of road codes... and the list continues. 

Driving entails more than moving a vehicle from Point A to Point B and because of this we have a tie.  In 2012 I don't think women are any worse at driving than are men...

... but that's just my opinion.