True – women are worse than men at driving tests
Thursday 29th April 2010, 2:56PM BST.
The pass rate for women last year was 59%, compared with 65% for men
IF you are the sort of guy who moans about women drivers, you can walk a little taller today.
New figures reveal that members of the fairer sex are more likely than men to fail their driving test.
In 2009 a total of 1,132 men took the car practical test, of whom 735 failed, making a pass rate of 65 per cent. In comparison, 1,098 women went before the car examiners, yet 643 failed, making a pass rate of 59 per cent. In the UK, 47 per cent of men pass, compared to 41 per cent of women.
However, the chaps should not get too cocky, because statistics also show that, once they are let loose behind the wheel without an instructor, men are more likely to crash. As a result, women enjoy cheaper insurance.
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Either the maths or the english is rather ropey in this article. The published numbers suggest that actually 65% of men and 58% of women failed.
oops
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Epic fail on the JEP’s part I’m afraid.
If 1132 men took a test and 735 of them failed then surely 397 passed. Ergo, the pass rate is actually (397/1131)*100 = 36%.
Similarly, if 1098 women took the test of whom 643 failed then this would mean that 455 passed. This gives a pass rate of 41%.
Never confuse ‘pass’ and ‘fail’.
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Oh God this is going to have legs.
I can see why women are statistically safer drivers and less likely to have an accident. If they spend their entire time at junctions having been flashed to go thinking ” does he mean me, no he can’t do he didn’t mention my name, I think I’ll wait here til the traffic dies down” then they can hardly have an accident if they aren’t moving can they.
Or my personal favourite, drive a massive 4X4 down a narrow country lane and freeze in the middle of the road when they encounter an oncoming vehicle, leaving the oncoming driver to back up, even if the woman is 3 feet from a passing point. They must sell their cars with unused reverse gears.
Cue the fairer sex response.
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Andy Sibcy.
Your teachers must have been on strike when you were doing percentages ?
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so all in all there really was no point to that article what so ever.
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Couldn’t be anything to do with women being the fairer sex and being more inclined to feel intimidated by the examiner during the test could it?
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Aah but! women are more polite than men on the road!
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That will be a fail for Maths GCSE for the staff at the JEP!!! ;0)
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So what’s new…? male drivers have espoused this for years……
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But don’t women cause more accidents lol
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Are all the driving assessors male? If so is this a factor?
It’s called positive reinforcement. People who think women are worse drivers will pick up on even minor mistakes with women drivers and think “I knew women were bad drivers!”, but are likely not to take much notice when men make the same mistakes and dismiss the mistakes as unimportant.
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Clare comment 11 – “Are all the driving assessors male? If so is this a factor?
It’s called positive reinforcement. People who think women are worse drivers will pick up on even minor mistakes with women drivers and think “I knew women were bad drivers!”, but are likely not to take much notice when men make the same mistakes and dismiss the mistakes as unimportant.”
Ah yes that’s it, much more likely than a highly trained driving instructor accurately assessing the ability of the driver and scoring accordingly. Why aren’t there more female driving instructors, is the clue perhaps in the headline? if so then perhaps women are worse at passing driving tests, including the one that permits them to become driving instructors.
Interestingly there was a recent survey that showed that women take far longer than men to reach a decision behind the wheel but having done so the decision reached was no better than the mans, indecisive women? never!
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Probably why there are no women in formula 1
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Hilarious postings on here. Took me back to the day i passed my test and made sure i wore a low fronted top and a high skirt
I passed first time !
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14 !Hilarious postings on here. Took me back to the day i passed my test and made sure i wore a low fronted top and a high skirt
I passed first time !
Yes and you’re a fella
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Hey Flip (14) thanks for the suggestion, I have my test on 19th May so maybe I’ll give that a try!
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I passed my test years ago in high heels and 2 driving lessons,you just had to drive around the town for 15 20 Min’s.
Experience came naturally-that was the real test when you went out on you own for the first time.
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LMAO…..and I am a fella! Love it….usually I get totally offended on here but that one has brightened up my day.
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12 lessons not 2. mistake I made
doubt if I,d pass now,as it seems a lot harder than years ago when you only failed if you did something really bad like crashing the car.
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#12 Mulvie Le Phew
That’s not positive reinforcement, it’s confirmation bias (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias), also commonly known as prejudice.
Positive reinforcement is something else entirely. It is used in operant conditioning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning) to encourage target behaviour through the use of rewards (eg praise). It seems to work equally well on men and women.
Just thought I would help clear that one up.
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Most examiners are male, and sexism is alive and well today no matter what Mulvie thinks. The examiner on my first test did not even touch pen to paper until the very last junction then put a massive cross saying I’d approached the junction dangerously fast. Strange that, I approached the junction the exact same way I had all the others, and why would I drive so well for 43 minutes and then suddenly become lethal? Never mind being in 2nd gear and the engine not even being audible. Hmmmmm Second test, exact same examiner (and exact same questions!!!) not a mark on the paper. Or, is it because the first was last thing on a Friday and the second was first thing on a Tuesday? Mind you, when I met the examiner I smiled, said hello and shook his hand, and apparently this makes you seem ‘over-confident’. I wasn’t over confident, I just wasn’t a quivering wreck, if he can’t tell the difference then he shouldn’t be doing that type of job.
#13 PJG, men and women are physically different and that is why there are no women in F1. It is not about driving skill it is down to the G-forces the drivers encounter. There could be a woman in F1 but she would have to be willing to have a massive neck, and that decision would have to be made at a very young age. I’ve done track days in Ferraris and Lotuses, and I always beat the men, it’s quite stunning how much it hurts their egos, even in this century!
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“I’ve done track days in Ferraris and Lotuses, and I always beat the men”,
Is there anything that Leah hasn’t done or had?
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@20 – love the pedantic response. Wish I had an education too…
I passed my test wearing a cycling helmet, reading my J Cat letter, complaining about the States to the instructer whilst showing off my Dandara tattoo.
Never have I had a better day than this…
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Joe (2) Epic fail on the JEP’s part I’m afraid.
No Joe this is another glorious example of the JEP statistics unit is full flow. The real story is the story behind the story, the JERSEY EVENING POST, bless.
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ok, couldnt help but notice the fail on the maths lol – but i guess thats already been noticed by the 100 posts before me
I just think its rubbsih anyway. I remeber my test was 9am on a monday morning. It was flawless. i did the best driving ever! and he didnt even let me finish the test before he told me id failed. the reason being i hadnt use my mirrors enough while parking. ebven though the parking was perfect!
The next time was like a wed afternoon. I partly drove on the wrong side of the road and rolled back about 5 meters on the hill start. hit the curb while parking and nearly killed us in the emergency stop. And he said. ” perfect! well done”
Ludacris!
I think we should have completley independent 3rd parties sitting in the back who can justify the examiners results.
Also – not sure if this has changed since i did mine about 7 years ago, but i would have thought a night test would have been a good idea. considering its probably when most accidents happen i woulda thought.
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Leah, you seem to know everything and of course the driving instructor was wrong, i mean he barely knows how to drive and you had just started!
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#22 Life is to be lived and I make a point of living it, what’s wrong with that? I spend my money on activities while others choose to spend theirs on having the fastest car or the biggest TV.
I’ll try most things given the opportunity, you never know what you might find your good at, bad at, or what simply gives you a great feeling regardless of your skill level. Too many of today’s kids have ‘nothing to do’ because they haven’t even tried many of the things out there, assuming that they won’t enjoy it.
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Kareneliot comment 20 – I didn’t say that it was positive reinforcement, I was quoting Clare comment 11.
I see you use that paragon of accuracy Wikipedia, Oxford English could learn a lot from them, none of it accurate mind.
Women just won’t have it will they, when statistics prove that they are less sucessful at passing the driving test then men there’s an excuse for it, men are sexist, have you ever heard such nonesense?
Everyone knows women are worse drivers than men, they are less confident and indecisive. Just watch one try to paralell park – useless. They may well have less accidents, you have to be moving to hit something, as for who causes more accidents…
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does anyone know why women fail more then men?…
because the instructor is a man.hahahaha….
this is an old joke
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Leah Holmes
“The examiner on my first test did not even touch pen to paper until the very last junction then put a massive cross saying I’d approached the junction dangerously fast. Strange that, I approached the junction the exact same way I had all the others, and why would I drive so well for 43 minutes and then suddenly become lethal? Never mind being in 2nd gear and the engine not even being audible. Hmmmmm Second test, exact same examiner (and exact same questions!!!) not a mark on the paper.”
If you were monitoring him closely enough to know exactly when and where he was writing, then I’d say you didn’t become dangerous after 43 minutes, you were dangerous for the entirety of both tests.
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The practical tests and theory tests of today are such a waste of money. They tell you to look in your mirrors when changing gears, braking and indicating. WTH?
The theory test is just a big money maker, if they wanted people to be road aware, they’d print out the answers, and show you where you went wrong so you can improve. So what if you pass them to your mates, gets them more road aware.
Men are deffo better drivers btw!
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Had lessons with my sister who jumped out the Mini and refused to take me! as i panicked and drove through a red light! couldn’t find brake!!!! Mum gave me a week of lessons then had instructor for 5 more, he liked to place his arm around the back of my seat!!!,yes my Granddad, did say wear low top and short skirt, you need all the help you can get! and by the way I know who your test instructor is (learners biggest dread to get him)!!!!!! nearly failed as was told to stand on yellow line and read no. plate re vision test, didn’t see line outside the office and stood W What about the Hill stop at Mount Bingham, and reversing bays!!! Are they still there or has Housing Claimed them? What fun it was back in 1980′s not so many cars on the road either!!!!
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Leah Holmes #21
“There could be a woman in F1 but she would have to be willing to have a massive neck”
Or, how about a smaller head ?
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Leah: “I’ve done track days in Ferraris and Lotuses, and I always beat the men!”
Is that because you crash into them?
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There’s a lot of ifs buts and maybes here but if ‘better’ is measured by the number of accidents let’s look at the statistics.
Everyone’s aware of the evidence showing men crash more frequently than women. Unfortunately that sweeping statement isn’t the full picture because men on average drive 70 – 80% more miles per year than women. The telling statistic is that per mile driven women crash more than men.
Cheaper insurance premiums for women are due to the fact they drive less distance and less frequently than men and their accidents are more often less dramatic in terms of damage and cost.
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Leah, you always beat the men? ALWAYS, I think someones telling fibs. I wonder what else isn’t true?
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Maybe……. Leah is a man !
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#36 Why? Track days the men think they know it all, don’t listen to the experts! Want to see how fast they can go on the straight and don’t break in time for the chicane. It’s hilarious.
What on earth makes you folks think women can’t be good drivers. While your body may be male or female your brain can be any combination of ‘male’ and ‘female’ traits, some women’s brains score as more ‘male’ than some men’s do.
And Chris, given that when you’re driving your peripheral vision should be taking in sights also it’s pretty easy to tell if someone is writing or not
Question me when you pass an advanced driving test.
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#28 I think the point is that not ALL women are worse. It’s the biggest and most stupid generalisation to make suggesting that all women are worse drivers than men.
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Leah “I always beat the men at track days”
must have been fantastic fun though, beating men at racing and seeing the egos deflate. Booking a track day is on my to-do list as well, perhaps one day when I get off the rock.
ahhhh but I seem to remember one of your mates had an ex-racing driver father, I bet you’ve had a few tips from him which gave you an unfair advantage
To add my tuppance worth to this debate, I’d actually have to concur that men are generally better drivers for the simple fact that the majority of females have little or no spatial awareness. It’s highly visible when one observes these simple creatures attempting to park at supermarkets or schools etc. Highly amusing as well
Of course, the females also don’t have the ‘go faster’ hormone which unfortunately makes us men liable to drive more dangerously, especially in younger drivers… so perhaps this balances it out overall. To sum up, I’d suggest that women have more minor mishaps such as wing mirrors broken and reversing into posts, whereas the blokes have more instances of running people over and smashing into walls
Just my take on it, for what it’s worth… I’m perhaps a little unqualified to be a judge as I don’t even have my driving test until May 19th!
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No 40. Seeing the men’s reaction is hilarious Tobias. Why let your sexism ruin what was otherwise a brilliant (and a little expensive) day? That’s just stupid.
I did grow up around some rally drivers, and when older got to hang around the various formulas up to some dalliances with F1, but rather than tips I just watched how they drove. The staff at the tracks have pretty much the same opinion, the men lose it because they think they know better than the experts
The stereotype is not having a clue what a racing line is or why it even exists, and aiming for the highest straightline speed.
I look forward to racing you some day. Racing aside, I totally agree that as a general rule men are more skilled drivers than women, because spatial awareness is more of a ‘male’ trait, but since the female relations of my generation have all gone into Engineering, Maths or Physics, I’ll happily kick any man who assumes ‘male traits’ only ever apply to men!
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Forgot Tobias… GOOD LUCK!
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Thanks Leah!
ten more days until I’m in the ‘hot seat’
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