Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Confirmed: Women are worse drivers than men!

July 08, 2011 16:47 IST

Men will agree and women will furiously beg to differ, but...

It is official. Scientists have discovered that women drivers are more dangerous behind the wheel.

A University of Michigan study found that female drivers get in more accidents despite driving less often than men do.

Researchers looked at 6.5 million car crashes and found a higher than expected number of accidents between two female drivers.

They also discovered that women have a tough time negotiating crossroads, T-junctions and slip roads.

The results are even more surprising given that men spend more time behind the wheel than women. On average, men drive 60 percent of the time, and women 40 percent.

"The results indicate that in certain crash scenarios, male-to-male crashes tend to be under-represented and female-to-female crashes tend to be over-represented," the Daily Mail

quoted Michael Sivak, of the University of Michigan, as saying.

The scientists also found that women were more likely than men to crash at a junction -- their cars are often hit on the left-hand side when trying to make a right-hand turn, and vice versa.

Sivak said this might be due to height difference between the sexes.

He said: "There are three dominant driver-related factors, including the probability of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, one's own driving skills and the driving skills of the other driver involved."



Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

 

Source: ANI