by Patrick Sills

Created on: June 20, 2008   Last Updated: June 23, 2008

Women are better drivers than men. Those of the female gender tend to use more common sense and are therefore more conscientious when behind the wheel. Certainly auto insurance rates reflect this. There's no getting around it. It's a fact. Males are much more likely to feel that they are invincible and drive recklessly. I myself know this from personal experience. As a teenager, my mission in life was to see how fast I could make my dad's car go down the Interstate. Most guys will concur with this. Horsepower; the need for speed, is where it's at if you are of the male persuasion; especially if you are young. You just don't see too many females driving "muscle cars."

Certainly part of this can be attributed to real-life situations. While the roles of women and men are not as clearly defined as they perhaps once were, one will still be much more likely to see a woman dubbed as a "soccer mom" hauling kids around in a minivan. Obviously, the chances of her pulling up alongside a Mustang Bullitt and challenging the driver to a drag race will be slim to none.

This is not to say that female drivers who are careless and/or foolish are not out there on our roads. They are. When I read the newspaper every day, it would seem that there are just as many women picked up for driving under the influence of alcohol as their male counterparts. Just recently, an inattentive 16-year-old girl in my locale was killed when her car flipped over numerous times. Instead of watching her surroundings and keeping her hand on the steering wheel,she was attempting to apply makeup when her vehicle went off the road.

Perhaps the worst female drivers are the blue-haired old ladies. You know who I'm talking about. The ones who have been in bifocals since Henry Kissinger negotiated peace talks with the North Vietnamese who drive Buick LeSabres twenty miles under the posted speed limit. There is no doubt in my mind that this is why many of us refer to those who crawl in front of us at a snail's pace as "driving like an old woman."

Yet overall, I still concur that females are better drivers. With exceptions as noted above, women are more careful. They are often smarter and make better decisions as well. Again; look at the statistics.

I don't have a son, but I can be thankful for this when my daughter joins the ranks of licensed drivers. Do you want to know why? I'll worry a little less than those who have male children each time she pulls out of a driveway.

Learn more about this author, Patrick Sills.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.