My wife has just bashed the front of the car into a wall,scrapping the bumper.Its not too bad and will touch up with some touch-up paint.
But this has got me thinking about women drivers reportedly being better drivers than men.
Out of all my friends and family and anyone else i know all the recent accidents have been caused by women drivers ranging from just minor scrapes to total write-offs.
No accidents among the men drivers i know.
I know that men drive more aggressively than women but from my experience some women cannot drive properly.My wife cannot reverse into a parallel space and refuses to drive on the motorway.
I know that my comments are only from personal experience but i do seriously believe that men can drive better than women and i am glad that insurance companies cannot discriminate against men after 21st Dec.
I would like to know other people's opinions on here as to how many crashes and scrapes are either men or women's faults from their family and friends.
I know this post will start a 'women can drive as well as men' debate but i just want to know if other people know of more women crashing than men or is it i'm the odd one out?
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The insurance industry don't seem to think so. They base their premiums on stats.
Last edited by: Fullchat on Sat 8 Dec 12 at 13:26
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>> The insurance industry don't seem to think so. They base their premiums on stats.
>>
Lies, damned lies, etc etc etc
I'm sure women are involved in more accidents per mile driven than men.
But having said that, maybe a lot of their accidents are more bumper-bashing than wrap-round-a-tree type accidents?
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OK, who is going to be brave enough to tell Pat she is a rubbish driver ?
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 8 Dec 12 at 13:36
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>> OK, who is going to be brave enough to tell Pat she is a rubbish
>> driver ?
>>
I'll take one for the team, being as how I'm so far away...
"Hey Pat...."
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I'm sitting this one out :)
I can parallel park perfectly in an artic, they bend so it's easy, in the Mondeo I'm the one drving round looking for a parking space big enough to drive into.
Don't even mention Tesco's car park, why do you think I have home deliveries?
Could it be women don't get enough miles under their belt because men won't let the have the car keys?
Pat
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The boss's car looks as if it's been in a war. Impulsive manoeuvres are her problem.The last incident was a late right turn decision, so she was too wide and going too fast - kerbed wheel and £100 replacement tyre. All four corners have been scraped and the o/s front wing was nutted by a cyclist in Cambridge who shot off a pavement across the road just as she set off, not her fault to be fair. Absolutely no point repairing it now at 10½ years old.
Never at fault in a proper crash though.
There's no doubt women generally are a better insurance risk than men. If you were looking for an explanation, you could speculate that women do fewer miles, and when they do have accidents they are less costly on average since men tend to drive faster.
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If a young person is going to have a monumental crash, then my wager would be on the male of the species.
Minor scapes with a little lack of attention, e.g. parking, then my wager would be more female.
Having said that, I've known my wife for over 7 years and she's never hit anything. I however..............................
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>> Having said that, I've known my wife for over 7 years and she's never hit
>> anything. I however..............................
>>
She might give you a wallop if you're not careful what you say on this thread.
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>> If a young person is going to have a monumental crash, then my wager would
>> be on the male of the species.
I agree. High speed crashes that involve deaths would be more likely to be caused by male drivers.
Now which is worse in the scheme of things?
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>> Having said that, I've known my wife for over 7 years and she's never hit
>> anything. I however..............................
>>
Give her time, I have known mine for 50 years and she has had 3 minor bumps. :-)
I however .................. have had one. After being told to be careful reversing a Green Goddess as the pump on the back is vulnerable to damage, I promptly backed into a skip and creased the rear bodywork. I blame the crap mirrors. :-)
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>> Minor scapes with a little lack of attention, e.g. parking, then my wager would be
>> more female.
Miss B has managed to scrape the Xantia's front bumper at both ends in one day. Big car, small lass and very tight parking spaces at the school music centre - misjudged.
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I might be the car mad one but my daughter is a driving instructor and I am very impressed with the way she drives.
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I once spent the best part of a day rubbing down and painting a rear bumper. SWMBO got in and reversed it into our other car!
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The important thing is cost per insurance year.
It is possible that the incurred cost is lower because women are better drivers; it also could be because typically they drive fewer miles, the miles they drive are at slower speeds, and the accidents they have are of lesser cost. When they do have an accident they are less likely to claim, and when they do claim the expenses are likely to be lower.
And the immediate reaction of providing an example which is different is not relevant. One is talking about trends across a group, not the behaviour of an individual.
It is a smart man that understands the distinction; it is a stupid one that points it out.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sat 8 Dec 12 at 18:21
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Mrs W recently put a very minor scrape on her car - a low level post, not visible in mirrors, in the dark. First time she has put a mark on a car in 35 years. She is also a good, positive (you know what I mean, doesn't dilly-dally, makes good decisions at junctions, roundabouts etc, drives and overtakes well on motorways, gets a move on on ordinary roads etc) driver. I have complete confidence in her - (often fall asleep when she is driving!)
Since driving is my job in the week she does the driving when we go to France - never had a nervous moment during our frequent 1000+ mile trips. (Touch wood, fingers crossed and all that)
However, what really annoys me about her driving is that she is an ace parallel parker - tightest space is no problem, whereas I...............
And she keeps reminding me "Could you have got in there in one move?" she innocently asks.
I don't usually reply.
P
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"And the immediate reaction of providing an example which is different is not relevant. One is talking about trends across a group, not the behaviour of an individual."
You are, of course, right. Sorry for post above (or is it below??)!!
PS, my daughter is also an excellent driver!!! Takes after her Mum!!!
Talking of which - my Mum was pretty good also.
I could go on - and usually do!
P
Last edited by: PhilW on Sat 8 Dec 12 at 18:31
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>>Sorry for post above
Ooo, please don't apologise when it was me being rude, albeit unintentionally.
I meant that we can all think of reasonable examples of exceptions, they're simply outweighed by the number of instances which conform.
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"Ooo, please don't apologise when it was me being rude, albeit unintentionally."
Yeah, I got that - should have put a smiley!
"I meant that we can all think of reasonable examples of exceptions, they're simply outweighed by the number of instances which conform."
Agree - but........ most women/young ladies I know/have known have been pretty good drivers. One (many, many years ago won "Young driver of the Year Award" - whatever that was in the 1960s!!).
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The fact my wife reversed into a wall, knocking the reversing sensor out of the bumper says it all really. And she treats door mirrors like fenders, she doesn't park she docks.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 8 Dec 12 at 20:03
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>>The fact my wife reversed into a wall,
Whereas you tried to bully a bus.
I'd rather insure her.
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>> >>The fact my wife reversed into a wall,
>>
>> Whereas you tried to bully a bus.
>>
>> I'd rather insure her.
There was an element of chance in my bus meeting, bookies offer short odds on my wifes reversing.
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But how many times does she have to mess up reversing before she's accounted for an entire Renault? Not to mention a couple of scratches on the bus.
I know for a fact that the damage to the bus was over £5. And since the Renault was destroyed, that makes at least £10 in total. (it might be more, I'm not sure how much petrol you had in it).
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>> But how many times does she have to mess up reversing before she's accounted for
>> an entire Renault? Not to mention a couple of scratches on the bus.
>>
>> I know for a fact that the damage to the bus was over £5. And
>> since the Renault was destroyed, that makes at least £10 in total. (it might be
>> more, I'm not sure how much petrol you had in it).
All right all right, stop picking the scab, the scars are bad enough that it was the worlds only reliable renault......
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>> The fact my wife reversed into a wall, knocking the reversing sensor out of the
>> bumper says it all really.
That's some good going.
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"The fact my wife reversed into a wall, knocking the reversing sensor out of the
>> bumper says it all really.
That's some good going. "
As long as sensors were switched on?
At which point, I would like to make a confession with regard to reversing (and, thank goodness, only nudging so no damage at all done) a car into a low wooden gate. At the time, I had undone seat belt in order to look over shoulder and was cursing the annoying bleeping that the seat belt warning thing was making. 'Twas not the seatbelt warning thing - 'twas the reversing sensor!
Doh! What a twassock!
P
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>> "The fact my wife reversed into a wall, knocking the reversing sensor out of the
>> >> bumper says it all really.
>> That's some good going. "
>> As long as sensors were switched on?
as soon as reverse is selected.
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Ahh yes, Mrs B and next door's wall. It was a while ago but......
The old house had a tandem drive. If overnight visitors were expected, unless they were off at sparrow fa*t, the drill was to move our car out of the way and let them in first. Shunting the BX out of the drive she turned about 10 feet too soon and the lovely robust self coloured plastic proper bumper pushed the party wall into next door's (empty) driveway.
Insurance paid up.
She was expecting The Lad at the time and we put it down to pregnancy induced brain atrophy.
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>> At which point, I would like to make a confession
Oh go on then, me too. When I had my Skoda estate I reckon my mental image of its size was about 2mm out - I scuffed the paint (but not the plastic) on all four bumper corners many times. I did the same with the Escort, but I must have grown out of it a couple of years ago because neither the Mondeo nor the Mazda have suffered any damage from tactile parking.
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When maneuvering on a mountain track and needing to reverse between two rocks I simply reversed back and waited for the sensor to bleep.
Turns out that a South American sensor bleep sounds a lot like a crunch. Either that or the vehicle doesn't have sensors. Dammit.
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The LEC is the first sensor-equipped car I've had. I scoffed at first - it's an estate, glass everywhere, window right at the back, I can see where it's going. But now - I've slipped into doing it NoFM's way, and when I park the Volvo I have to remind myself that the orange lights and the beep won't be there to help me.
That said, the LEC is a joy to parallel park; the combination of sensors and tight turning gets me into spaces I wouldn't attempt in the Volvo without the best parking aid of all: a shop window.
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Men are better at concealing the true extent of their blame for a prang by glorifying it with the name of "accident". This means it was not their fault, and was just one of those things that can happen to anyone.
Women come home shame-faced and confess to having scraped the car.
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A mate of mine is married to a very nice lady who is probably the worst driver I have ever seen.
While we were all living in CZ she once came round to visit my wife and attempted to reverse into our drive. The third time she hit the gatepost on the way in she decided not to bother taking yet another go, floored the throttle and proceeded to remove the ends of both bumpers, a mirror and ruin both offside doors and wings.
She could have parked the thing in the square outside our house, but one of her major issues is not knowing her limitations. Also I suspect she'd have managed to hit one of the trees anyway.
When his stint in that part of the world was up, my mate handed back the company car. I believe that the roof was undamaged.
One of her better moments was after having a small shunt in CZ. At the time it was mandatory to call the police for any accident and they duly turned up. Due to the language barrier they asked her to come back to the police station with them and while following them back, she rear-ended the police car at a set of traffic lights.
She still drives regularly and I am mightly relieved that we now live in different countries.
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I don't have access to the database the insurance company uses, so can only go on personal experience in our household, since myself and Mrs OB became a couple. In that time (about 14 years) we've both driven around 200,000 miles.
Let's see, I've pulled out from a blind junction, causing a smash. Technically my fault. I've been rear ended twice (yes, yes, insert pun here), not my fault, but insurance companies still count it against me. I've took off a mirror reversing out of a garage on Mrs OBs car - never heard the last of that one. I reversed a car into a fence (no damage, old style bumpers) and also a low metal post that dented the modern plastic bumper. I reversed into a low wall marking a bumper that had just been re-sprayed not a week before... I've probably had a handful of other low speed nudges too, ones that didn't really cause any damage.
Not a good record, especially.
Mrs OB has cracked a few door mirrors, scuffed several bumper corners, nudged the lower front bumper on low kerbs more times that I can remember, scraped alloys, dinged doors etc, but never had anything like a smash or a bump causing real damage.
I think on that record, Mrs OB looks a better bet than I do! I would like to argue I'm a smoother, more observant driver, but the facts are stacked against me...
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Women crashing cars. - Fullchat
