Men may joke about female drivers, but women are laughing all the way to the bank. That’s because, statistically speaking, the ladies are safer behind the wheel, which means they pay about 15 percent less for car insurance than men.
One big reason for the female driving advantage: Estrogen. A study at the University of Bradford found that high levels of estrogen give women a longer attention span. Also, estrogen makes the “rule following” part of the brain work more efficiently. So, women tend to obey more traffic laws.
But there is one area where men outperform women: Understanding the mechanics of car safety features like, side-curtain airbags and electronic stability control. And that’s something men are born with. A study found that baby boys are more attracted to mechanical motion, like watching windshield wipers, than watching people speaking.
And it comes in handy – because men need the safety features the most. After all, men are 4 times more likely to get a ticket for reckless driving, 3 times more likely to drive under the influence, and are twice as likely to die in a car crash than women.
Still, gender doesn’t matter when it comes to one important highway safety concern: Distracted driving. Accidents and near misses caused by things like cell phones and iPods are leveling the playing field between male and female drivers. That’s especially true among younger drivers. A study by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that distracted driving was a factor in more than 15 percent of fatal crashes that involved people under the age of 20.