Are Men Better Drivers than Women

Argue all you want; however you'd be hard-pressed to find documented proof that men are superior to women as drivers. But make no mistake – gender certainly does impact driving habits and insurance industry observers believe that issue manifests in other ways, too. That's a point driven home by insurance executives such as David Snyder, who acknowledges that most car insurancecompanies take into account a driver's gender in determining policy pricing.

"The weight in pricing varies from company to company and by claims experience over time, but, for example, with all other factors being equal, a female between the ages of 18 and 25 would pay less than her male counterpart because as a rule younger women drivers have fewer accidents and moving violations than males in the same age group,” says Snyder, vice president and assistant general counsel of the American Insurance Association, in Washington, D.C.

The only time gender has a bearing on car insurance rates involves young drivers, says Carolyn Gorman, vice president of the Washington, D.C. office of the Insurance Information Institute (III). Young males, between the ages of 16 to 25, typically pay more than females in their age group, because "many young men are more likely to show daredevil tendencies in their driving because of factors such as emotional immaturity and misplaced feelings of immortality," Gorman pointed out.

>> Get the Best Auto Insurance Rates <<

Many auto insurance industry experts would agree with the theory that males, especially young men, tend to drive more aggressively than women and display their aggression in a direct manner, rather than indirectly. Furthermore, as a rule of thumb, male drivers are more likely than women to break the law, and the male of the species tends to be more of a risk-taker.

So… let's see what the statistics have to say about drivers, in terms of males vs. females. Figures compiled by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) show that more men than women die each year in motor vehicle crashes, figures that drew explanatory comments from various insurance industry observers such as Russ Rader of IIHS, in Arlington, Va., and Tully Lehman, of the Insurance Information Network of California (IINC).

"Men typically drive more miles than women and engage more often in risky driving practices including not using a safety belt… and speeding," according to Rader, spokesman for IIHS, in Arlington, Va. "This is due to the fact that men typically drive more miles and exhibit often risky driving practices such as driving while intoxicated, not wearing a seatbelt and speeding," said Lehman.

On the flip-side, IIHS also reported that from 1975 to 2003, female deaths in motor vehicle crashes increased 14 percent compared to an 11 percent decline for male motorists during that same period. Insurance industry executive Daniel W. Kummer pegs the rise in female deaths in vehicular crashes to more women obtaining driver's licenses than in the past and driving more miles than, say, 25 years ago.

>> Get the Best Auto Insurance Rates <<

"We're also seeing women driving more aggressively, picking up that bad habit from their male counterparts," points out Kummer, director of personal lines-auto for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI), an insurance trade organization based in Illinois. Kummer believes that there are more women drivers, because more females hold down jobs today than a quarter-century ago. "All these factors lead to more deaths among women drivers and their auto insurance costs are rising in direct proportion to their accident and death rates from crashes."

"Reckless driving used to be the province of male drivers as opposed to women," says III's Carolyn Gorman. "We're seeing more and more examples these days of women driving aggressively and exhibiting road rage, which represent poor behavior behind the wheel."

"If trends continue as the data suggest," said IINC's Tully Lehman, "you could start seeing a closing of the gap of car insurance rates between male and female drivers, but for the time being at least, the gap will still remain much as it is today."

>> Get the Best Auto Insurance Rates <<