by Rhonda M.

Created on: August 18, 2005   Last Updated: January 13, 2007

We have all heard the smart remarks when hearing about or passing by the site of an accident: must have been a woman driving. Women seem to get the butt end of a lot of driving criticism. Why has this happened? Because it is true women often multi task while driving instead of concentrating on the road. Women are applying makeup, talking or worse texting on the phone, while sliding in sideways to drop the kids off at school on time. Men on the other hand are pedal to the floor as he races past the whole line of traffic to take the lead and slides it in sideways to get his favorite parking spot at work. This being said is there any such thing as a "best" driver when we are relating to gender? What makes either sex a better driver? Can a woman not drive just as well as a man if she is trained exactly the same and drives wisely and carefully? What really makes a good driver in the first place?

The differences between male and female drivers are how they interpret and use driving skills. The people who teach us to drive also teach us how we should drive. It is not uncommon to see dad passing his tricks and tactics on to his son or a mother passing them on to her daughter. What you don't often see is dad teaching his little princess how to drive or mom teaching her son. Why do you not see this? Dad is full speed ahead while his little princess is applying her lip-gloss at max the speed limit and mom is grasping the dash while speedy shows her his skills. The genders clash! Clashing leads to annoyance and often yelling which in turn leads back to the beginning mom teaching her daughter and dad teaching his son the tricks of the roads.

Pride also often comes in to play when driving. Men tend to take more pride in their ability to drive at high rates of speed while still controlling their car while women simply want to travel fast enough to get there on time. Men are more aggressive behind the wheel in most cases. A man will take a risk just to see if he can do it while a woman will simply not attempt anything that is not a necessity. This attitude teaches males how to learn to control their vehicle in many different situations. Women on the other hand who never try to see what happens while driving at 100mph panics if the situation ever presents itself that she needs or has to.

Reaction speed also comes into the equation when determining a better driver. Males tend to be able to process information and what needs to be done in the case of an accident faster than females.

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