There is an unfounded and sexist prejudice that women are bad drivers. When a female driver has an accident, headlines are made as “The female driver had an accident.” When a male driver has an accident, there is no need to state that he is a male. According to scientific research, there are parts where women are weaker than men in driving, but there are also parts where they are stronger than men.
The reason why the two sexes drive differently than each other is explained by evolutionary biology. Physical differences between men and women play a bigger role in driving skill than you might imagine.
The male hormone testosterone has a very strong effect on driving skills.
To drive well, you need to have strong visual processing skills. Testosterone increases spatial awareness in men, giving them more advantages in tasks like parking. Distance, surrounding objects and symbols can be better understood. In this way, road conditions are interpreted more quickly. Researchers found that older men who were starting to lose some of their visual abilities experienced an increase in their visual processing speed when they took a dose of testosterone. So the share of testosterone is quite large.
Spatial awareness, which is your ability to understand the relationship between yourself and other objects (vehicles, structures on the road, etc.), is also important. People with good spatial awareness tend to be more successful in various areas of life, including arts, sports, science, math, and driving. Again, some studies have shown that high testosterone levels increase spatial awareness, which is vital for being able to drive without crashing into cars or objects on the road.
It is also necessary to consider the disadvantages of testosterone.
We know that this hormone is associated with aggression. Testosterone doesn’t automatically make men aggressive, but it can cause male drivers to take more risks and be overconfident.
This is why adolescents, men in their twenties and thirties, are more likely to die in a car accident because it’s the years when testosterone levels are highest. Therefore, testosterone can sometimes be an advantage, and sometimes a disadvantage.
Like testosterone, estrogen can have an impact on driving. Estrogen allows women to concentrate better while driving than men.
Accidents due to drivers looking away for a moment are quite numerous. Here is the predominance of women in this “attention” issue; because estrogen increases concentration. Women are not easily distracted, they focus better on the road ahead.
Memory also plays an important part in being a good driver. Elements such as remembering the route, time of arrival are related to memory. Studies show that women tend to have a better memory than men, and age-related memory loss begins later in women than men. Perhaps the reason why a man called “buy bread when you come” comes home without bread is perhaps related to this situation.
The biggest difference between male testosterone dominance and female estrogen dominance is behavior. We often associate estrogen with empathy. That’s not the only reason women show affection, but it does play an important role. Therefore, female drivers are more likely to obey the road rules, not argue with other drivers, and not take unnecessary risks.
Hormones may fuel the differences between men and women, but the brain is the real engine behind sex behaviors.
Men have a better sense of direction, while women are better at remembering routes. That’s why men don’t ask for directions easily, so ego isn’t the only reason. It’s all about the hippocampus. This part of the brain allows people to create mental maps and navigate city streets without getting lost, and research has shown that men use this part of the brain more when driving.
On the other hand, women remember landmarks and objects better, allowing them to remember a route better. Women take advantage of this because they have more connections in their frontal lobes, which play an important role in working memory.
The reason for the sentence “women can’t park like men” is because women have a smaller parietal lobe, which can cause spatial difficulties.
Men have the advantage in this regard because of the larger surface area in their parietal lobes. Since this part of the brain gives men the ability to spatial awareness, it provides an advantage in conditions such as parallel parking and reversing.
Men have larger amygdala, an almond-shaped brain structure associated with emotions, especially negative ones (anger, fear, aggression). When exposed to threatening or stressful situations, the amygdala “lights up” and encourages male drivers to take action. This can cause situations such as reacting angrily to a driver.
Women have a larger prefrontal cortex that matures faster than men. This part of the brain gives people the ability to regulate emotions and behavior. This is the part that takes action when we “think things through.” This explains why women take less risk than men because the area of this region is larger.
So what do the statistics say? For this, going to the place where it all started will give an idea: Driver’s license exam results
A UK study found that female drivers are more likely to fail the driver’s license test than men, and this rate increases as they age.
Findings from this study:
- 17-year-old female drivers are 7% more likely to fail the driver’s license test than males.
- This rate rises to 15% for women who take the exam at the age of 20.
- By age 30, women are 25% more likely to fail than men.
- 35, this number rises to 41%.
- At 50, women are 50% more likely to fail than men of that age.
So why do female drivers have such a disadvantage? Social conditioning plays a part, as well as differences in brain structure and hormones.
Men are more successful in the driver’s license exam, but they have more accidents than women.
Men pay $15,000 more in lifetime insurance than women. Men under the age of 25 take the lead in this regard. That’s because men, especially younger ones, have a tendency to drive aggressively.
Despite their cognitive advantages such as visual, spatial and motor processing, men are more likely to be involved in fatal or serious accidents. Men are also more likely to get speeding tickets, violating traffic signs/lights. Men break traffic rules twice as often as women. In other words, if you are in a car driven by a female driver, you should feel safer.
Women are not without risk either. In some cases, they can be more dangerous than men.
- Women are 5% more likely than men to reply to messages while driving.
- Women are 11% more likely to snack behind the wheel than men.
As a result, both men and women can succumb to dangerous habits while driving. The difference lies in what they do.
In summary; Men have the capacity to drive more skillfully than women, but if you’re in a woman’s car, you’re much safer.
Regardless of whether the driver is male or female, practice and good habits will make everyone behind the wheel better. There are many women who make a living by repairing cars or racing, outperforming male drivers. Also, not every man is going to be aggressive just because he has testosterone.
Ultimately, it all depends on the individual, not the gender. Although both men and women excel at different types of skills, both can be great drivers.
Sources: 1, 2
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