Men Scared By Women's Driving

-Chris-

http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/men-scared-by-women-s-driving/251499

Men scared by women's driving Tuesday, July 20, 2010

• 10% have grabbed wheel from partner…
• …to avoid a crash
• Men's top 10 complaints revealed

The UK's men are left cowering in the passenger seat when their wife or partner takes the wheel, according to a new poll.


A study by market research firm OnePoll.com has revealed that 10% of men have been forced to grab the steering wheel because their partner had lost concentration and veered towards the central reservation.

A OnePoll.com spokesman said: 'Most men feel they are better drivers than the women in their lives.
'They believe they concentrate a lot better, read road situations more quickly and clearly, and have better reactions.

'One in five even went as far as to say they were never able to relax when their other half is driving.'

Disharmony on the move
The research also revealed that 20% of couples have argued about the quality of the other's driving skills.

Men's biggest criticisms of their partner's driving were that they were too easily distracted by children, scenery, or other drivers.

One in 10 men also admitted to asking their partner to pull over, so that they could take the wheel.

Top 10 complaints about women's driving
1 Shortage of concentration
2 Braking too late
3 Flicking the accelerator
4 Not avoiding rumble strips
5 Getting too close to other cars
6 Braking too hard
7 Fiddling with the stereo
8 Failure to indicate
9 Going too fast
10 Sticking to the middle lane

I apologise in advance to my fellow mods for the number of reported posts claiming sexism that this thread will generate... :P:D

Lads - does any of this ring true or is it just a bit "tabloid"?

Ladies - what else can I say? Defend yourselves!!!

Drummerboy08

Fcukin A!

It sounds like a regular 5 minute drive to the shops for my missus...:D

Heroditas

Sounds like the RSA needs a new campaign:

"She drives, he prevents the accidents"

Mr. Presentable

Well, in spite of the likelihood I'll have to go without for a month

Mine is scary.

Accelerates too hard
Won't overtake
Likes the middle lane
Brakes late and hard
takes longer to reverse into a space than to drive to the shops in the first place

Has hit fixtures three time in the last 18 months, twice in spite of being able to see them (reversing)

I am very nervous in the passenger seat, but try hard not to show it.

Alanstrainor

Top 10 complaints about women's driving
1 Shortage of concentration
2 Braking too late
3 Flicking the accelerator
4 Not avoiding rumble strips
5 Getting too close to other cars
6 Braking too hard
7 Fiddling with the stereo
8 Failure to indicate
9 Going too fast
10 Sticking to the middle lane

Tbh, i've heard the same things said about old drivers, young male drivers etc etc. I know guys and girls that do the above.

That being said, i'm never happy as a passenger in a car, I'll always want to be in control in a car.

Mr Benevolent

My brother's fiancé has written off one car and damaged another. I hate being in a car when she's driving. Doesn't help that she drives an old Corsa

Mr. Presentable

Oh, and she'll wait for a car that's on the horizon to pass before exiting a junction while at the same time not noticing a car coming in the other direction.

eoinl4529

when im in with my mother shes is constantly texting. it drives me nuts its so ****ing stupid to be texting while driving. concentration is gone completely.
she replies to my complaints saying shes never had a crash and to shut up

Heroditas

Mine doesn't do a single one of those things. Lucky me!

I'm amazed that a particular habit of many drivers isn't mentioned, i.e. the inability to talk to the passenger beside them while keeping their eyes straight ahead.

It does my head in when I'm behind someone and they spend half the time turning to talk to the front passenger. Keep your eyes on the road you moron :rolleyes:

-Chris-

Heroditas wrote: »

Sounds like the RSA needs a new campaign:

"She drives, he prevents the accidents"

ROFL! :D

Anan1

nipplenuts wrote: »

I am very nervous in the passenger seat, but try hard not to show it.

Alanstrainor wrote: »

That being said, i'm never happy as a passenger in a car, I'll always want to be in control in a car.

Me too. I wonder does this have anything to do with it?;)

jenizzle

As a woman, I am also petrified of other women drivers too :rolleyes:

Mr. Presentable

Anan1 wrote: »

Me too. I wonder does this have anything to do with it?;)

Plenty, I'd say.

Eric Cartman

I wont get in a car with a woman unless im under the influences of substances to the point where i dont notice anymore

GTE

I was petrified at the speed at which a friend of mine set off.
Coming out of the estate seemed like a rally style start (for a Corsa). So quick that she would nearly hit the kerb on the side of the road.

Then I saw someone teach a friend how to drive and once she got the car moving she looked out the window and said "YAY YAY, Look at me". Full throttle in 1st gear. . .

Mam is fine, but getting slower.

I think a big problem that can be had with new female drivers is sheer incompetence with regards to driving and skill and then the problem with new male drivers is sheer ignorance of possible consequences.

Cookie_Monster

I get given out too for pressing the brake pedal in the passenger seat when she's driving

langdang

Anticipation/awareness - poor. There have been arguments.
A prime example of how when someone passes the driving test they must know everything. I reckon I wasn't a "proper" driver until a few years, and many miles after it.

I find ways to make "risky" manoeuvres safe, she finds ways to make safe situations risky!

chillin_penguin

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I get given out too for pressing the brake pedal in the passenger seat when she's driving

I do that too. Breaks way to late!! And always check look out the windows to make sure no car is coming when she is turning

dudara

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I get given out too for pressing the brake pedal in the passenger seat when she's driving

Funny, I do that too when he is driving.

TBH, I have a theory of my own. When you see a car do something kind of aimless and dangerous, it's usually a woman driving. When you see a car do something dangerous and reckless, then it's usually a man.

There is a difference between the mistakes that the sexes make, but don't gloss over the fact that BOTH sexes make dangerous mistakes.

fiona-f

Seems a bit tabloidy alright - I doubt the papers would find the room to publish such an article if it wasn't in the height of summer with no political news, no soccer matches, etc.

In relation to some of the points, a lot of the things mentioned reminded me of how my mam acted (constant reaching for the handbrake as soon as any other traffic appeared on the road!) when she was my accompanying driver while I was a learner. So maybe some of them have to do with the fact that it seems men get their licences straight away when they're 17 whereas many women wait til later in life - so perhaps they're being taught by their husband / boyfriend / whatever and it's a different situation to a fully qualified woman driving with a fully qualified male.

Some of the points seem distinctly odd though - fiddling with the stereo? Seriously? Seems a rather odd gender-specific complaint to me!

The particular example of grabbing the steering wheel if the car began to drift towards the central reservation is surely a quick way to ensure that control of the car is lost pretty rapidly - a quick "darling pay attention" might be more in order. And if 10% of men have had this experience, isn't it clear that the RSA urgently need to reprioritise and insist that all women have a male passanger to prevent the massive amounts of "crossing the central reservation" accidents that have been striking down the ladies on our roads.

In my personal experience, most faults are common to drivers of all sexes - the only possible exceptions would be a tendancy for men to have better spatial awareness and so better at parking or tight manoeuvres and for women to be more risk averse so less likely to go for a tight overtake. But these woudl be very much tendancies and might actually be a question of confidence / belief (justified or otherwise) in their own ability.

In any case, I think driver education has gotten better in recent times - for the most part, I feel far safer being driven by people of my generation and younger (early 30s) than people of my parents' generation - even if they do have a century's no claims bonus - which for the most part just means they got lucky and other people managed to avoid collisions resulting from their mistakes like lane jumping on roundabouts and an aversion to indicating (quote from my uncle when challenged on his lack of indicating "sure why is it anyone else's business where I'm going? They shouldn't be so nosy")...

Mr. Presentable

Who let sensible in?

challengemaster

fiona-f wrote: »

Seems a bit tabloidy alright - I doubt the papers would find the room to publish such an article if it wasn't in the height of summer with no political news, no soccer matches, etc.

Yet the "He drives, she dies" crap found its way fairly easily onto national radio...

Funny, that.

Eric Cartman

challengemaster wrote: »

Yet the "He drives, she dies" crap found its way fairly easily onto national radio...

Funny, that.

we have people in here trolling the internet now looking for **** to print, its a slow slow news week

Never seen a problem with female drivers specifically, more the terribly important big car drivers

me_right_one

I hate when anybody else is driving, male OR female. I need to be in control. Although I have to say, I'd prefer to be driven by a male if I had no choice, for the bulk of the reasons outlined in the OP.

fiona-f

challengemaster wrote: »

Yet the "He drives, she dies" crap found its way fairly easily onto national radio...

Funny, that.

I'm not sure I follow - wasn't that a paid advertisement though rather than a news article? I absolutely agree the ad was a sexist and patronising load of rubbish whose effects were probably more counterproductive than anything else but once you pay for the ad slot, it's bound to be broadcast / published. I'm not sure what that's got to do with the bland non-article quoted in the OP.

limklad

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I get given out too for pressing the brake pedal in the passenger seat when she's driving

I got shout at for pulling the handbrake fast and hard when ex was speeding and nearly ploughed into an old man stopped ahead of us on a back road to let cattle cross the road. We missed by one inch. I was ****ting it when I got out of the car to gather my senses and to inspect the length of the skid marks. They were roughly 7 to 10 metres. I wish I had a camera.

My Grandmother was fast driver but sensible and yield to other traffic and watches other road users like a hawk. Most of my Aunts were careful as my uncles, but most of the younger generation (sisters and cousins) are not fully concreting on driving, instead are easily distracted with anything around them including the Mobile phone. I rather not drink and drive myself to family events so I can control the safely of my life.

-Chris-

limklad wrote: »

I got shout at for pulling the handbrake fast and hard when ex was speeding

You pulled the handbrake while someone else was driving????

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Cookie_Monster

-Chris- wrote: »

You pulled the handbrake while someone else was drivingcrashing????

fyp

-Corkie-

My missus does ask me on a long spin do you want to relax and let me drive. I say when you drive I dont relax. Although she do frighten the ****e of me giving a roar if I am doing something wrong..:)

KamiKazi

Well I won't get into my sister's car if she's driving, and I'll only get into my mother's if there's no other option.

So yes :P

BrianD3

From http://english.pravda.ru/society/family/79884-0/

Russian men compare women drivers with monkeys

Chauvinistic men compare women drivers with monkeys playing with bombs meaning that you never know where a monkey could throw it.

unkel

Many of the comments on this thread just go to show how poor the standard of driving is in this country. I'm not blaming the drivers here, I'm blaming the system. Though I'm not going on a rant here

Thankfully most girls / women cop onto themselves better than most boys / men when it comes to safe driving. What happened in Donegal would never have happened with a female driver and female passengers...

VinnyTGM

eoinl4529 wrote: »

when im in with my mother shes is constantly texting. it drives me nuts its so ****ing stupid to be texting while driving. concentration is gone completely.
she replies to my complaints saying shes never had a crash and to shut up

Mine is exactly the same, she veers all over the road whilst doing it aswell.

limklad

-Chris- wrote: »

You pulled the handbrake while someone else was driving????

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

She was not watching the road and she was speeding on a back road and she was not slowing down but instead speeding up in full view of the stop car ahead after going around the bend. She was looking at herself in the mirror. Pulling the handbrake saved lives that day, I do not and never will regret it.

Three weeks later she crashed her car on another back road going to fast around the bend lost control and hit a tree. Her ex best friend was injured. Her ex best friend never since got in to her car since and she blame the accident on the car for losing control rather than accept she was the blame.

limklad

unkel wrote: »

Many of the comments on this thread just go to show how poor the standard of driving is in this country. I'm not blaming the drivers here, I'm blaming the system. Though I'm not going on a rant here

Thankfully most girls / women cop onto themselves better than most boys / men when it comes to safe driving. What happened in Donegal would never have happened with a female driver and female passengers...

Despite what system is in place, Drivers are the Blame for bad driving. It is the Driver responsibility to control their car in a responsible manner. Drivers are fully responsible for their actions.

unkel

limklad wrote: »

Despite what system is in place, Drivers are the Blame for bad driving. It is the Driver responsibility to control their car in a responsible manner. Drivers are fully responsible for their actions.

If I'm reading you right, I think I completely agree with you

-Chris-

Newstalk Breakfast are covering this study at the moment! No mention of boards.ie yet...

:P:D

biko

# 10% have grabbed wheel from partner…
One in 10 men also admitted to asking their partner to pull over, so that they could take the wheel.
That's probably the same 10%

1 Shortage of concentration
2 Braking too late
3 Flicking the accelerator
4 Not avoiding rumble strips
5 Getting too close to other cars
6 Braking too hard
7 Fiddling with the stereo
8 Failure to indicate
9 Going too fast
10 Sticking to the middle lane
None of these are particular feminine traits imo, several are displayed by males too.
If fact, tailgating and speeding seems to be a typical male trait.

Maybe if women grabbed the steering wheel or pulled the handbrake more often the "He drives, she dies" campaigns wouldn't be needed?

Tea 1000

biko wrote: »

# 10% have grabbed wheel from partner…
One in 10 men also admitted to asking their partner to pull over, so that they could take the wheel.
That's probably the same 10%

1 Shortage of concentration
2 Braking too late
3 Flicking the accelerator
4 Not avoiding rumble strips
5 Getting too close to other cars
6 Braking too hard
7 Fiddling with the stereo
8 Failure to indicate
9 Going too fast
10 Sticking to the middle lane
None of these are particular feminine traits imo, several are displayed by males too.
If fact, tailgating and speeding seems to be a typical male trait.

Maybe if women grabbed the steering wheel or pulled the handbrake more often the "He drives, she dies" campaigns wouldn't be needed?

Don't be silly. If women grabbed the wheel and pulled the handbrake while he was driving they'd have to come up with a new campaign stating:
"She can reach the controls, everyone dies"

limklad

biko wrote: »

If fact, tailgating and speeding seems to be a typical male trait.

Traditionally with the older generation, I would have said yes. Nowadays with a new generation I highly disagree as young women (up to mid 30's) are far more aggressive on the roads than they used to be. They are beginning to match men too with Tailgating and speed.

Matt Simis

biko wrote: »

None of these are particular feminine traits imo, several are displayed by males too.
If fact, tailgating and speeding seems to be a typical male trait.

Maybe if women grabbed the steering wheel or pulled the handbrake more often the "He drives, she dies" campaigns wouldn't be needed?

I think you are making a strange assumption that the traits must be gender exclusive, the above list is simply feedback from men. That doesnt mean they have to be overtly feminine traits by any means.

Regarding tailgating, every woman I know does this, some way worse than others. Generally when Im tailgated I initially think its some asshole trying to "race" but it usually turns out to be a middle aged woman in a Qashqai. Doesnt matter the speed, she wants to drive 1m from the rear of my car.


My other half shouts at me for driving too fast at all speeds and all situations and shouts at me for critiquing her excessive speed when she is driving. Its like as a passenger she has no concept of speed at all, grabbing door handles when someone in front brakes as if we are going to crash at any moment. Infact the most annoying thing that causes most arguments is the "he is braking, SLOW DOWN OMG" sheer panic, despite the fact I am braking and generally keep an [admittedly] OTT 3car lengths from the car in front unless overtaking.

Again, its the strange lack of feeling of inertia, cannot tell either speed or deceleration aside from visual queues.

smash

Average 5min trip to the shops

Leave the estate...

me: eh watch the ramp
her: eh I can see it
*bang*
me: I thought you could see it?
her: yea well....
*bump bump bump*
me: pick a lane will you, you're on the cats eyes
her: shut up, you always moan and make me nervous
me: then fcuking concentrate and I wont give out, now can you put two hands on the wheel (both hand on her lap with 2 fingers on the bottom of the wheel)
her: fcuk you, you're driving home
*crunch crunch*
me: good, we might actually make it there in one piece then... that's if you haven't broken the clutch.
her: :mad::mad::mad:

no1beemerfan

Top 10 complaints about women's driving
1 Shortage of concentration
2 Braking too late
3 Flicking the accelerator
4 Not avoiding rumble strips
5 Getting too close to other cars
6 Braking too hard
7 Fiddling with the stereo
8 Failure to indicate
9 Going too fast
10 Sticking to the middle lane

The ones in red describe my gf perfectly! And I can say she has honestly really scared the s*it out of me at least three time and one of them we ended up rolling the car! (Came too fast into a blind 90 degree corner that the car could not take so the back spun out and we hit the ditch which flipped the car)

Matt Simis

no1beemerfan wrote: »

The ones in red describe my gf perfectly! And I can say she has honestly really scared the s*it out of me at least three time and one of them we ended up rolling the car! (Came too fast into a blind 90 degree corner that the car could not take so the back spun out and we hit the ditch which flipped the car)

Yet the RSA say you are the problem.
The last 2 car accidents Ive seen (proper ones) were both women drivers crashing into other cars, one of them lost control on a twisty downhill bend (tricky when oily) and one of them floored it into oncoming traffic at a TJunction (seemingly she "assumed" she had right of way). Almost wiped out a family in the process, had effectively no excuse.

For whatever reason, I havent seen any other accidents as they happen, but then again I dont drive at 5am on backwater roads where I suspect the stat skewing accidents happen. In normal day to day driving, IMO, the gender figures maybe reversed.

stimpson

The only time I really thought I was going to die in a car, a woman was driving. In fairness to her, she had almost mastered the art of simultaneously accelerating while steering with her knees and applying her make up. Cue her phone ringing and her wedging it between ear and shoulder and continuing with the tasks in hand while wandering into oncoming traffic.

They say man can't multi-task - it's probably a GOOD thing that we can concentrate on one thing at a time. In fairness to women though, my missus is an excellent driver despite a couple of penalty points for speeding and a fondness for late braking. I just make sure she has good tyres and brakes!

Viper_JB

While I don't believe in stereotypes - I do see them, and I've never been in a car with a woman who could confidently and correctly reverse see all the other stuff too but that's when in the car with my aunt driving, and she's pretty much a hazard for everyone else on the road to avoid - one of the old school drivers.

Lemming

Heroditas wrote: »

I'm amazed that a particular habit of many drivers isn't mentioned, i.e. the inability to talk to the passenger beside them while keeping their eyes straight ahead.

It does my head in when I'm behind someone and they spend half the time turning to talk to the front passenger. Keep your eyes on the road you moron :rolleyes:

I was driving on the M62 (towards Leeds in the Uk, enroute to the M1) the other day and had an absolute muppet driving around me for the better part of the stretch of motorway and she was *frightening* to behold. Kept drifting over lanes, sitting between lanes, tailgating, speeding up, slowing down, etc. in a range rover. So when she dropped back down around the speed limit (70mph), I overtook her just so that she was behind me if anything bad happened.

As we overtook, the missus took a look and lo and behold it was a middle-aged woman too busy looking at her passenger than watching the road. She started to veer towards us whilst we overtook and I knew she wasn't paying attention to her mirrors/blindspots when I saw it out of the corner of my eye.

We got past her, and she continued doing her muppetry, then she put the foot down, passed us, passed more cars, tailgated, weaved, etc. etc. etc. All I have to say is thank christ we turned south onto the M1 and left her to her devices.

biko wrote: »

If fact, tailgating and speeding seems to be a typical male trait.

You'd think ....

limklad wrote: »

Traditionally with the older generation, I would have said yes. Nowadays with a new generation I highly disagree as young women (up to mid 30's) are far more aggressive on the roads than they used to be. They are beginning to match men too with Tailgating and speed.

QFT.

Tailgaters or people doing well in excess of the speed limit (I'm not talking about 80 on a 70mph limit here) on the M1 (my daily commute these days) between Sheffield & Leeds are just as likely to be female as male. In fact, in all my driving over the UK and Ireland, some of the most aggressive and dangerous motorway driving I've witnessed has been female; and anecdotally twenties - thirties going by what I've seen.

ABajaninCork

Nothing wrong with MY driving thank you! 26 years on the road and never had an accident! I like to think I'm a reasonable safe driver. But then again, I didn't pass my test in Ireland...

I can reverse park (Living in London, you have to!), drive on motorways safely and without holding up traffic or driving dangerously; and I can reverse and park in designated spaces without too much difficulty and without pissing off fellow car park users:P I've seen MEN here who cannot seem to do these simple tasks, never mind women!

BTW - I do most of the driving in our house, and my DH has NO problem with it!

ToxicPaddy

An ex of mine was a complete psycho behind the wheel, terrified me and drove a little piece of cr*p too so if anything happened we were both dead..

One day she scared the bejesus out of me pulling a stupid move trying to over take a car in town on a blind corner, so I demanded she pull over, I got out and walked off.. last time I got into a car she was driving..

The relationship didnt last long after that, but she is going to either kill herself or someone else some day and I'm just waiting to hear it on the news soon.. :rolleyes:

Voodoomelon

ToxicPaddy wrote: »

An ex of mine was a complete psycho behind the wheel, terrified me and drove a little piece of cr*p too so if anything happened we were both dead..

One day she scared the bejesus out of me pulling a stupid move trying to over take a car in town on a blind corner, so I demanded she pull over, I got out and walked off.. last time I got into a car she was driving..

The relationship didnt last long after that, but she is going to either kill herself or someone else some day and I'm just waiting to hear it on the news soon.. :rolleyes:

Good man. So the next time a girl offers you a lift and you don't trust her driving, don't even think about getting in...