Women are better drivers than men. (W24) Really?
Since comments by readers had been closed on Media24, I wish to respond to a column which appeared in W24 and written by Carmen Williams with the heading “This is why women are better drivers than men”. (22 July 2016)
No, I am not going to start some war of the sexes here. But I am going to point out how immensely flawed her argument is. And yes, it is the old story of how one can skew statistics to suit one's own argument.
For example, for every study which supposedly proves something, there will be another study which proves the opposite. The pros and cons of coffee comes to mind. Or the arguments around the use of cannabis. Just recently there was yet another study which was published in the journal Psychological Science, which claims to show “how unacceptably easy it is to accumulate (and report) statistically significant evidence for a false hypothesis.”
The more I read Carmen's column, the more I believe it was surely tongue-in-cheek and simply meant for a good laugh. So I will actually start my own argument with my conclusion being: There are bad drivers and good drivers. Gender has (mostly) very little to do with it although certain things may affect driving when it comes to gender such as in the case of distractive driving which is the number one cause of all serious accidents in the USA and increasingly in South Africa. One such cause for example is women applying make-up while driving. Something men simply do not do right?
Carmen's premise seems to be that men are worse drivers because they would look at a pretty women walking next to the road more often than women would be distracted by a hunk. This is too funny. Firstly because I cannot even remember when last a pretty women walking next to the road distracted me and secondly because this is only one very small factor which leads to distractive driving. Cellphones are by far the most distracting factor these days. Be it when driving or not.
The argument regarding men thinking that driving an expensive car makes you more attractive and affects your confidence when driving is such a small factor when it comes to the causes of serious accidents that it can almost be omitted entirely.
First one has to look at the main causes of accidents. These being in order: 1) Distractive driving 2) Speeding and 3) Drunk driving.
The main causes then again for distractive driving are:
Talking on a cell phone
Sending text messages
Reaching for a moving object inside the vehicle
Looking at an object or event outside of the vehicle
Reading a book
Eating food
Applying makeup.
Now – studies have proven over and over again that women are the main culprits when it comes to using cellphones while driving. They are almost twice (1.65 times) as likely to use their phones whilst driving than men are. The same applies to snacking behind the wheel. And lastly, men do not apply make-up while driving.
So when we look at these studies and statistics, it (logically?) follows that since distractive driving is the most common cause of all serious accidents and that the use of cellphones while driving is again the most common factor in distractive driving and then again that women use their phones almost twice as much as men when driving – therefore surely one can then conclude that women are more culpable right?
See how one can use statistics to your own liking? And another question is whether the causing of accidents is the only factor which determines a good or bad driver? What about the use of indicators and mirrors or keeping a proper following distance for example?
Drunken driving is definitely a serious issue. And since there are more male drivers than female drivers the chances of men being guilty of this serious offense is greater. Yet men do not necessarily drink more than women. Men can possibly even handle the same volumes of alcohol better than their smaller female counterparts. And in the still-patriarchal society we live in, men would most likely be the designated driver when driving home from the pub or a party rather than women. Even when the women got themselves just as drunk.
There are simply too many overlapping factors to take into account. One also has to look at the society and country and culture and number of people taking part in such studies. It is simply too skewed an inaccurate. For example if one were to sample our notoriously dangerous taxi industry which is almost purely male dominated, then yes surely men would be classified as utterly horrendous drivers.
The bottom line here is that Carmen's argument cannot possibly be taken seriously if the premise seems to be that men are worse drivers because they like fancy cars and tend to look at women walking next to the road. Lol. Honestly. That is just too funny. But thank you for the entertainment it provided.
Nope. It mostly comes down to distractive driving as the number one case of accidents. Sexy people walking next to the road is just one such distraction. Men and women are almost equally guilty in most cases when it comes to various distractions, except when it comes to the use of phones, snacking behind the wheel and applying make-up while driving. These being the most common causes of accidents.
I will leave readers to make up their own minds regarding this. Personally I believe there are simply bad drivers and good drivers. What I do believe though is that men are much more prone to road rage, which is yet another possible cause of accidents.
Some Sources:
Causes of serious car accidents:
https://seriousaccidents.com/legal-advice/top-causes-of-car-accidents/driver-distractions/
Female drivers are 1.63 times more likely to use a cellphone while driving than male motorists, finds a new study:
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/female-drivers-more-likely-to-use-phones-while-driving-study-674796
Shocking number of SA accidents caused by mobile phone use:
http://businesstech.co.za/news/mobile/86756/shocking-number-of-sa-accidents-caused-by-mobile-phone-use/
Statisticians can prove almost anything:
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/statisticians-can-prove-almost-anything-a-new-study-finds