According to scientists men get distracted more easily leading to mistakes
It’s often remarked and joked about that women are bad drivers and not as good as the men but according to a new study it’s the ladies who are the better drivers after all!
The study discovered that young males, those who drive on a regular basis, neurotic or extroverted people tend to be easily distracted whilst driving, which is thought to be responsible for around one eighth of all road accidents.
Older women is seems were much better at not allowing themselves to be distracted whilst driving and paid more attention to the road ahead.
Turns out women are the better drivers after all!
A group of scientists from Norway looked into how personal characteristics such as gender, age and personality affected distraction in a driver.
Ole Johansson, a researcher at the Institute of Transport Economics said: “A recent report concluded that distracted driving plays a part of at least 12 per cent of car accidents in many different contexts and countries, with most estimates suggesting larger numbers”.
The scientists first sample group took 1,100 high school students from various places in Norway, of which 208 had a driving license.
A second sample group was made of 414 people from the general population.
As part of the survey, the amount of distractions and what kind those taking part experienced whilst driving were looked at, as well as what their attitude was towards driver distractions.
Overall the rate of distractions was low but they did find that messing with the radio was the most common type of distraction and some of the most outstanding predictors of distraction came down to gender and age.
It seemed young men were the group most likely to be distracted, whilst others such as those who drive regularly and ones with a neurotic or extroverted personality tend to be more prone to distraction.
Those who thought that distracted driving was okay, or out of their control were the ones who were more likely to confess to driving whilst distracted.
According to the study, older women and drivers who thought they had control over their distracted manner were the ones less likely to confess to a distraction.
Mr Johansson said: “As the task of driving a vehicle is mostly taxing on the systems of visual attention, any factor that draws the gaze away from the road for a significant period of time could be classified as a distractor.”
Your risk of being involved in an accident increases hugely after just two seconds of distraction.
In a separate study carried out by Privilege Insurance in 2015, they found that women really were the better drivers.
During a number of driving tests, the women beat the men comfortably – the men cut corners, took more risks, drove too close to the vehicle in front, talked and texted on their mobile whilst driving, cut corners and went through traffic lights on amber.
Women on the other hand were more considerate and courteous, stopped at the lights if they turned to amber, took more care when approaching a potential hazard and used their mirrors correctly.
The conclusion based on Privilege Insurance’s findings were: “After years of debate and banter comes the news that will have men running for cover. It is now official: women are actually better drivers than men.”
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