My mother was a fantastic driver, my best friend (a she) is a fantastic driver. Now yes of course I know other female friends that get distracted at the wheel, but so with some male friends.
I don't feel is a gender issue, but a personal one. There are good and bad drivers, men and women. Nevertheless, a car is a vehicle to bring you from point A to point B in a safe way. Why all the competition??
Your thoughts on this?
And for a Sunday smile, here is a story:
2007-09-16 02:01:03 · 18 answers · asked by Flyinghorse 6 in Social Science ➔ Gender Studies
Two drunk men arrested for driving same vehicle
Marshfield News-Herald
Two Dorchester men were arrested for operating the same vehicle while intoxicated in the Colby-Abbotsford area.
Harvey J. Miller, 43, who has no legs, was steering the 1985 Chevrolet truck from the driver’s seat while Edwin H. Marzinske, 55, operated the break and gas pedals, according to the police report.
They were headed northbound on Hiline Avenue in Abbotsford when police pulled them over at 2:40 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 18.
Miller admitted he was too drunk to drive but argued he wasn’t operating the vehicle because he couldn’t push the pedals. Miller was issued a citation for a third drunk driving offense, while Marzinske was cited for a second. Both men were also cited for operating after revocation.
A third drunk man in the vehicle walked himself home after the incident.
2007-09-16 02:03:26 · update #1
http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070827/MNH/70827161/1732&located=RSS
2007-09-16 02:03:52 · update #2
Kendrick, the story of the drunk guys, although a real story, was meant as a joke, something ironic, therefore I wrote "AND for a Sunday smile". A complete different paragraph
2007-09-16 06:01:53 · update #3
History….during the time prior to the ‘cultural revolution’ females rarely drove. My own grandmother never even had a license until grandfather died. During that time it was the guy thing to drive. Check out those old movies, and TV shows of that time.
Now whether the stereotype started because (most, many?) women then were bad drivers due to the lack of experience, or simply as a easy excuse to indulge the stereotypical ‘male ego’ for control, or a combination of the two would be an interesting study.
As to why the stereotype is still around today, even though the car insurance statistics, at least the ones they use for rates, show the opposite, I believe is just that it is hard to kill a stereotype once it is in the social consciousness.
2007-09-16 08:26:29 · answer #1 · answered by sirwasik 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
I think that there are good & bad drivers of all genders and races etc. Age is something else. Sometimes the very young and the very old pose a risk. I think that the biggest two things that I see that really scare me is driver inattention and road rage. One can often cause the other. We live in a society where there are far to many distractions when we are driving. We have cell phones, screaming and yelling children, trying to multi task while driving and just being preoccupied by what went on during the day and what we need to accomplish when we either get to work or get home. There is a therapy that is used for anxiety, mood disorders and variety of things. One component of the therapy is called Mindfullness. It is about living in the here and now. Concentrate on what you are doing while you are doing it. Even the most mundane tasks such as washing the dishes. Feel the warm water, smell the soap, enjoy the steam rising into your face, the texture of the dishes , the sparkle of the glasses. You do these exercises as many times of the day as possible and you find that eventually it calms the mind and allows you to concentrate on what you are doing. It would be great to make this course a prerequisite to getting a license. Over the labour day weekend in the area that I live there were 12 fatalities on the Friday alone. Maybe where you live that is not remarkable but where I live it is unheard of. We don't have the population concentration of most major U. S citities.
If you can not be distracted and just concentrate on your driving and not let the behaviour of other drivers bother you, you will arrive at your destination safe, relaxed and more productive then you ever have been before.
2007-09-16 04:29:31 · answer #2 · answered by judy b 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If that's what's the general public opinion about women drivers, they probably haven't seen our family driving through the town! Mom's at the wheel and dad sits beside her, always. He says he panics while driving and hasn't driven us ever; though he did try his hand at it at a local driving school. So, I don't think at all that it's a gender issue!
Another story - I learned driving at a school run by a woman. Now this woman was such a surprisingly good driver, she could drive (of course that used to be done only on a nearby barren piece of land) sitting in the passenger seat! (since driving school cars are modified to have breaks on the passenger side too). Once my bro came to pick me up from the driving school and saw her doing this thing; and trust me, he was so flattered!
But I remember reading about this issue in a newspaper. It said men consider the car a part of their being and hence find it easy to drive one-handedly whereas women seem to detach themselves from the car, considering it to be a mere machine. How much truth this study holds, I don't know! But one thing is for sure; I don't have those split-second reflexes and hence wouldn't drive as reckless as my bro! However, reflexes can be developed and my driving teacher (the ma'am) had better reflexes than I've seen in most men!!
Anyways, great story!
2007-09-16 05:17:51 · answer #3 · answered by *Felicia* 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Deciding if men or women are worse drivers is like deciding if young people or elderly people are worse drivers. You are going to come across all kinds of people that should not be operating a motor vehicle.
But I do have to say from experience (and I am a woman) that I have encountered many more women that should not be driving. I am waiting for the day when I see some foolish female poke herself in the eye with her mascara while driving.
Ladies, put your damn makeup on at home.
Gentlemen, shave at home not when you are driving.
Everyone -- stop reading while you are driving and hang up the damn cellphones!
P.S. I just loved your story
2007-09-16 02:14:40 · answer #4 · answered by Vera C 6 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Well, lets see...where to start. First of all I am a female who has a clean driving record. I personally have seen both men and women that can't drive. However, I think the bigger problem is that the guys buy bigger vehicles. They don't want the little sedan anymore. They want the big SUV. So, the woman in their life gets to drive the big SUV(ex. suburban). I learned how to drive BIG vehicles but alot of women don't get that exposure until their man says here's the keys honey. Then they try to drive the big SUV and look like complete morons because they can't drive it because they've never really been given the opportunity or training to do so. Just my thoughts.
2007-09-16 02:14:30 · answer #5 · answered by psuaub626 2 · 5⤊ 1⤋
Ha, Ha, Ha ! I agree it is a personal issue. Many people say the worst drivers all live in Texas. Since I live here and am a most perfect driver (joke), I might agree with that. But, people are people and some drive good and some are totally obtuse to their surroundings when driving and god help us all to get away from them. Loved the story.
2007-09-16 02:07:00 · answer #6 · answered by sashali 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
The 'women as bad drivers' thing is just another stereotype. It gets trotted out when needed or appropriate. The reality is that there are good and bad drivers in every gender, race, religion and culture. You can pull out all the 'statistics' and scientific research regarding the female brain vs. the male, and it really just boils down to the individual in the end.
2007-09-16 06:41:04 · answer #7 · answered by Super Ruper 6 · 6⤊ 0⤋
Well statistics show that Women drivers are better than men. Men think they're worse because men see speed as being an important aspect of driving. For many young men, being safe, is not factored in when considering whether or not someone is a good or bad driver.
So while there are good and bad drivers on both sides, there are more bad male drivers..hence the higher insurance costs.
2007-09-16 02:09:04 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 2⤋
In psychology we learn about cognitive biases. Your question seems to involve one of them called 'positive test strategy' or it could also be 'biased sample'. It can be both as well. What a person does is, when they are out driving, a 'bad' woman driver cuts them off. Then the male driver becomes angry at being cut-off. This anger activates the stereotype in his mind about women drivers and he says to himself 'it's because she's female/a woman'. But the male driver forgot something. He forgot that there could be plenty of woman drivers that were around him that didn't cut him off. Thus he only looked for those female drivers which confirmed his belief (this is positive test strategy). His sample size is too small, as it is only one person, thus he has a biased sample as well.
Why all the competition?
Perhaps it has something to do with another bias called 'self-serving bias'. The man may take the ambiguous information of a woman cutting them off and interpret it as women, in general, being bad drivers. They do so by comparing their good driving with one woman's bad driving. By way of something called social comparison theory, the man's driving now looks better than the woman's. Since he is generalizing from one woman to all, his driving, at least to him, is now better than all women's. This enhances their self-image/self-esteem. Now the person has reinforced his own bad behavior, by self-praising his good driving and downplaying all women's, and the behavior will continue.
2007-09-16 12:55:11 · answer #9 · answered by Fortis cadere cedere non potest 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure what 2 drunk men with disabilities have anything to do with healthy sober women driving. Did you intentionally make this comparison? haha Do you consider these comparisons to be an even playing field? haha
I've never made a competition out of this.
Edit: I know. That's why I was joking as well.
2007-09-16 05:36:34 · answer #10 · answered by Nep 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋