Leah Bitsky
A&E Editor

There is much speculation of whether boys or girls are better drivers, and most answers are rarely unbiased.

Jessica Oestreicher ‘12, a new driver to the roads,  believes that females are better drivers.

“I think that boys are more preoccupied with driving fast and drifting whereas girls are just trying to get from A to B” Oestreicher said.

Gregg Bonti ’12 however, unsurprisingly believes that males are the better drivers.

“Boys don’t care about being punctual, so they take their time and drive slower,” Bonti said.

It’s evident that the male believes men are better drivers, while the female believes that women are better drivers.

AOL Auto conducted a poll if men or women are safer drivers and out of 6,182 votes, 49% of the voters said men, while 50% said women.

It seems that no one admits to the opposite sex being a better driver, however statistics have come to a final conclusion.

The Insurance company AAMI found that 84% of men have crashed their car, while only 77% of women have crashed their car.

AAMI spokesman Geoff Hughes confirms the safer driving of women.

“Our claims data shows that men’s crashes tend to be more serious than women’s, they are more likely to be involved in head-on collisions, roll-overs and loss-of-control crashes, as well as crashes involving pedestrians, cyclists and animals.” Hughes said.

Studies have shown that the male recklessness in driving could be due to aggression in males.

“A vast literature, plus common sense, indicates that men are far more physically aggressive than women [and]…research has found that this behavior unsurprisingly manifests itself in the realm of transportation” The New York Times reported.

They also reported that because of this aggression, they are more likely to disobey traffic laws such as running a stop sign, tailgating, or racing other drivers on the road.

These statistics are exactly why car insurance rates are significantly more expensive for men than for women.

Looking at statistics alone, it could be said that women are the better drivers, however www.car-accidents.com revealed that men and women do not drive the same number of miles and that “men do about 60-65% more driving than women.”

Also, more men take longer trips than women, and women get into more minor crashes, “however men are still 70% more likely to be in a serious crash.”

Although women drive less than men, research clearly shows that it would be much wiser to get into an automobile with a female driver, rather than a male driver.

Related articles

• Wheels: The Cost of Insuring Teenage Drivers (wheels.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Parents underestimate teenage car carnage, warns study (telegraph.co.uk)