Only young children? Yeah right.....

Depth perception?

Cancer?

Children? I'm in my 30s and my Mother's driving still scares the holy crap out of me.

I can't believe the insurance industry still rates women differently than men. Maybe the stats they look at still confirm something to justify it, but in real world experience, women have made great strides towards reckless, obnoxious, and careless driving in recent decades.

That's because my dad is more aggressive, but better, while my mom is tentative to the point of being really scary. The only time my dad scared me was touching a peg down in a turn on his bike. That sent both our heart rates through the roof.

Why bother limiting the study to young children?

Of course my driving is perfect, but hell's gonna freeze over before I ever let my kid ride with my mother-in-law. She should have her license revoked...and her cell phone.

my aunt is the worst driver ever. when i was younger she gave my sister and me a ride to swim team practice. she made a wrong turn and ended up on the opposite side of the block so she drove across the senior center's yard and dropped us of parked the wrong way in front of the rec center. the worst part was the entire swim team was outside the pool watching this go on. she's also almost killed us on an icy mountain road in colorado. when we miraculously made it back home my dad said, "i'm about ready to kiss the farking ground."

@ChubbyTiger "tentative to the point of being really scarey"

I know exactly what you mean.

My mom likes to pull to the top of the on-ramp and come to a complete stop, rather than getting up to speed and merging smoothly onto a busy highway.

Scares the hell out of passengers, and infuriates other drives.

These kids obviously never rode in a car with my ex. He was notorious for running red lights and stopping at green lights. Almost wrecked the car once because there was a spider on the floor by his feet.

It's amazing what will pass as scientific these days.

I can summarize this article in one sentence, "Insurance company finds excuse to raise women's insurance rates."

Lexann: My mom likes to pull to the top of the on-ramp and come to a complete stop, rather than getting up to speed and merging smoothly onto a busy highway.

Ahhh, the Pittsburgh school of driving.

That's because women are more likely to tell their kids, "Be quite while Mommy tries to make a left turn."

I am in my 30's and if I have to go anywhere with my mom, she just hands me the keys. Not sure if she either doesn't want to drive or hates seeing me whiteknuckling the dash as she does.

/Though I must note that she keeps her eyes closed most of the time and uses the invisible brake pedal when I drive.

Merltech

Depth perception?

Death perception?

Englebert Slaptyback

I like yours better.

Seriously though, I have to keep reminding my wife that the front of the car exists and not to pull so far into the intersection.

I'm 23 and I still grab the 'oh shiat' handles whenever I'm riding with any friends who are girls...
When I'm riding with guy friends, I focus on whatever music is playing or a conversation. Point being, their driving usually isn't distracting.
I don't know what it is, but all of the girls I ride with regularly seem one step shy of suicidal.

/some good women drivers out there
//not sure where

My understanding has always been that women caused more minor accidents, you know like hitting a car in the driveway, and men cause more fatal accidents and that is why the insurance companies charge men more.

My mother isn't too bad a driver, but my girlfriend... Jesus farking christ... She's been driving for all of 2 years and has gotten in 3 wrecks (2 her fault, 1 not), and in recent history she begged to use my car for a little bit. I, unfortunately, succumbed to her demands. Went well for a while, until we ran into a cross section of blinking red lights/yellow. We had red, and the crossing road had yellow. She pulls to a stop in the left turn lane, looks to see someone coming from the left, and slowly pulls out in front of them, and comes to a complete stop. Meanwhile they're barrelling toward us at 50 mph, and she looks at me and says "Why aren't they slowing down?"
"They have right of way, but just go"
"Why?"
"JUST FARKING GO"
*other car's horn starts blaring*

She freaks out and peels off and drives over a curb after making the left turn.

Made her turn off the car, switch seats, and refuse to let her drive my car anymore.

Not being prejudice or anything, but men and women drive very differently, obviously. Women (that I've known) usualy drive like it's only a set of rules to drive by, and the physics of driving apply less to them. They stop late, accelerate too slowly and dont have a damn idea what to do in an emergency situation, and have absolutely no idea how to safely merge or handle rotaries, things just get worse in incliment weather.

I'm a woman, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies...

Er, actually though, I am. I've been driving 16 years, never been in an accident or even gotten a ticket. Maybe playing all that GTA paid off. *wicked grin*

/However, both my mother and mother-in-law's driving make me want to gnaw my own arm off. I admit there's truth to the stereotype.

I got my liscence about 7 years ago, from that day if I had to go with/take my mother somewhere, I always "voluntered" to drive. Always. No matter what. Hungover, headache, not feeling well, maimed, broken leg, whatever. You get the point.

I've been a pizza delivery driver (surprised, right?) for two years or so now, and women are by far worse drivers. However, there have been a few studies I've read which concluded that women were better than men. I think the answer to this lies in the fact that while a woman is knowingly being tested and is only focusing on the driving, they're generally better than men. However, in the real world, women try to do and think about six things at once while they drive, which tends to not work out so well. I've also read that while men are involved in more accidents (which some studies use to conclude that they're worse overall drivers), women are the cause of more accidents (not signaling, turning the wrong direction, cutting off, etc.). But let's get down to brass tax here. I've also seen (on the Science Channel I believe) that the center of the brain which controls the thought processes involving spacial relationships (driving, walking, etc) is generally smaller in women than in men. Enjoy.

I let a girlfriend in college drive my car once..... once..

We go to exit a praking lot, turning left on to a two lane road. She looks left, no one coming and pulls right out. I woul have slammed on the parking brake if I hadn't already looked to the right and seen it was clear.

She did confirm that she forgot to look to the right.

//never again

My mom wouldn't drive anywhere. Once, while Dad was overseas, we needed milk. "Mom, drive up the street to 7-11". No can do, so I rode my bike. She got a little better later and now merges on ramps instead of stopping. Funniest was when she got a ticket then started yelling at the cop while dad sat in the passenger seat laughing.

My wife though...ugh...she drives offensively. If she's in a parking lot and someone is coming right at her she keeps on going, not bothering to honk the horn or swerve. She's totaled two cars already and is slowly working on a third. Wreck one was on a county road, she was backing out of the driveway (somewhat hidden) and didn't slow...she nailed it and got rear ended. The other time, this is my fave, she was turning left at a light that had gone yellow. A car coming the other way nailed her when she (driver of the other car was a female too) thought that yellow meant the other party had to give yield. Poor cop was about to cry at that one, since both parties got tickets. Oh, let's not forget her not driving with a license, since "if you give the cop your name, he'll look it up". Told a NC SHP patrolman that once, he started laughing before asking me to drive.

I think part of it is inattentiveness....I know my wife, if she sees something interesting, will look towards it then steer that way too. Or if 2 women are driving down the road talking they'll look at each other, which isn't good when the driver is looking to the right while the car drifts all over.

Every woman I know has new brakes installed every 6 months. I have had my car 6 years with original brakes. I've never had new brakes installed on any car I've owned. I've been driving 15 years, zero accidents. My girlfriend, 7 accidents. I sit on my hands whenever I've had my sister drive me, she does not brake until what feels like 20 feet from the car in front of us at the light. On a 30 minute car trip she made me carsick from driving on a highway, speeding up, slowing down, speeding up, slowing down, no traffic, just the way she drives. My female cousin slams into a bridge while reaching for a cell phone. (same one who had license suspended for 21 points) And in snow forget it. So, all of these women feel the need to buy the biggest SUV they can find, because it's "safer" for their children. Meanwhile, they put the rest of us at risk with these 2 tons of unweilding steel.

Ok, yes, I drive fast (75 in a 55). But I leave 2 seconds in front of me, know as much about what's happening behind me as what's in front. I slow before the light, when i stop at a light, I come almost to a complete stop, then let of brake, then ease back on it again. (try explaining to a woman that - they believe there is stop and go - nothing else) I understand merging, I see emergency vehicles 2 miles before they reach me. I can drive well on snow ice, even though my car is only 4" off the ground. I can parallel park with ease. I can back into a parking spot and be in between the lines.

bwave: I leave 2 seconds in front of me, know as much about what's happening behind me as what's in front. I slow before the light, when i stop at a light, I come almost to a complete stop, then let of brake, then ease back on it again. (try explaining to a woman that - they believe there is stop and go - nothing else) I understand merging, I see emergency vehicles 2 miles before they reach me. I can drive well on snow ice, even though my car is only 4" off the ground. I can parallel park with ease. I can back into a parking spot and be in between the lines.



Costanza says "You'e Batman!"

As a motorcycle rider...women scare the living shiat out of me.

Most of these comments are pretty accurate. It seems like 95% of the time I see a car do something careless, stupid, and/or dangerous, I say "I bet that's a farking woman", and sure enough...


/has a least one woman friend who drives like an insane person
//refuses to get into a car with her

I don't get it.
If people drive so badly, how the hell did they get their licenses in the first place?

My girlfriend is generally a good driver, but every so often she'll do something so mind bogglingly and obviously stupid that it's a wonder she doesn't get us both killed.

My mother is the best driver I've ever known. Conversely, my wife can't handle left turns, a rotary, or merging. Or backing into a parking spot. Or pulling into a parking spot.

You should have seen her car when I married her. 90% of the panels had dents, scratches, and second-hand paint from other cars and a porch. It was the kind of glorious disaster that made other drivers keep far away on the roads.

Oh, and my mother once drove the wrong way down a one way street. I never got into her car without trepidation again.

Has anyone else observed this:

Young women (in their 20s) talking on a cell phone while driving. However, rather than just talking like a normal dumbass, they hold the phone about 3 inches in front of their mouth and stare intently at it, as if they could see the person on the other end. All the while attempting to change lanes at 60 km/h.

omgwtfazn:

In Illinois, you pay ten bucks, and after a nearly pointless 5 minute driving "test" and 25 hours on your permit they pretty much throw them at you. I Don't get it either. We spend an entire couple years learning to operate a 5 gram pencil and yet you can get your license to a 2500lb land based ballistic missile after a month thanks to services like Adam's Driving School.

I have feared for my life many a time while in a car. But the worst offender was my uncle. He drove like a maniac. And he's a cop. Once while driving to his wedding rehersal, with myself, my mom and grandma in the back, he got pulled over for speeding in a residential area. But the cop knew him, so away we went.

I know I drove like an idiot in the begining. I don't blame that on being female, I just blame that on being an idiot. It took one accident in which I lost my car, but walked away without a scratch to change all that. Believing you really are about to die, or at least be in a lot of paid instantly makes you rethink things, to say the least. Now I drive like grandma. (not really)

/pain, not paid!

Man, Woman...who cares. Yapping on a cell phone...argh! There was an article greenlit about six years back on how to build a M.A.S.E.R. in your car (cell phone jamming device) I wish I DL'ed the instructions.

so now we're linking directly to "news" releases on company web sites, with links to where you can sign up for their crap-ass insurance? score another point for the marketers. well played, Kwik-Fit Insurance marketing guy. well played.

/Sorry
//It's not a sex thing, it's a brain thing