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It's True - Women Are Better Drivers than Men


woman in car (select to view enlarged photo)

LONDON--November 6, 2012:

A new survey from car hire comparison site UK Car Rentals has found that women drivers perform better on the roads compared to men, highlighted by the fact they have been in fewer accidents and carry less penalty points on their driving licence.

The study by Carrentals UK, which involved over 700 people over the age of 18 across the UK, asked respondents to identify common road signs and answer questions about their driving experience and ability. Results showed that men typically have more points on their license, have been caught speeding more often and have been involved in more accidents across all age groups.

According to the findings, 57% of male drivers questioned had had one or more accidents compared to 44% of female drivers. Furthermore, nearly double the number of men had both points on their driving licence and had been caught speeding compared to the number of women.

Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, said: "While men would like to believe they are better than women behind the steering wheel, it is clear to see that male drivers performed worse in terms of speeding fines and penalty points. While men performed poorly on the questionnaire and typically had a worse track record on the roads, they believed that they were good drivers."

While women came out on top in terms of number of points and speeding, results revealed that both men and women performed poorly when identifying a number of common road signs. According to the findings, the 'No Stopping' Sign was the most incorrectly identified sign on the survey, with nearly one in three people answering incorrectly. A significant amount of participants who got the road signs wrong actually cited activities that are consistently illegal on the roads such as no racing, no undertaking, no speeding, no braking and end of speed limit.

Women also appeared to be the better drivers in the over 66 category, with just 30% having been involved in an accident compared to 60% of men the same age. Men in this age group also scored significantly lower on the correct road signs and almost half had been caught speeding compared to just 15% of women. Despite this, none of the participants in this category rated their driving as poor.