Who Are the Better Drivers, Men or Women?

Probably since the first car took to the streets, driven perhaps by Fred Flintstone in his foot-powered motor, gender clichés related to the automotive industry have been with us. We have all, no doubt, heard such comments as “It had to be a woman”, “women don’t know how to drive”, “a woman at the wheel, constant danger”, and perhaps much worse, and even today, many women have to put up with such derogatory comments, and so the DGT has decided it only right to clarify a few facts about women drivers, the results of which may surprise you.

Why? Well, the reality actually differs considerably from the stereotype, a reality that can be supported by statistics, that, according to the wealth of data that the DGT has at its disposal, women are, in general, better drivers than men. Moreover, it is not necessary to summarise it in one piece of information, but rather in a series of percentages that they hope will help to change your perception.

Women are more cautious than men

As recalled by the Deputy Director General of Training and Road Education of the DGT, María José Aparicio, of the 1,139 drivers killed in traffic incidents in 2019, only 10% were women. This data in itself would put an end to any cliché, but it has also revealed that only 5% of drivers who died with the presence of drugs or psychotropic drugs in their bodies were women.

Of course, there is a definitive fact that shows that women are more cautious when driving, and that is that the vast majority of drivers who lose the validity of their driving licence due to crimes and infractions are men. Do you want to continue dismantling myths in these lines?

More women on the roads… but good data

The percentages that we have seen take on greater weight in light of these statements by Aparicio at the presentation ceremony for the study ‘Ellas Conducten por la Ciudad’ by the Midas workshop chain, which aims to put an end to the clichés that surround women in driving time.

“Today in Spain there are 27 million registered drivers, of which 42% (11.34 million) are women. That is to say, we are very far from those 4.5 million drivers who circulated in our country 30 years ago, and yet, despite this, of the 1,139 drivers who died in 2019, 90% were men”, reported the deputy director of Traffic Training and Education of the DGT, showing that many times we talk about what we may not know.

Women respect the rules of the road more

“Women are much more cautious than men and respect traffic regulations and speed limits more. Our behaviour is more respectful of the norm, something that is not only observed in the commission of infractions”, Aparicio assured, also arguing that 45.5% of the deceased drivers analysed had the presence of drugs of abuse or psychotropic drugs in their body, and of them 95% were men.

“Similar results” can be obtained if you look at the profile of people who lose the validity of their driving licence, either after losing all the balance of points or through criminal proceedings after convictions for crimes against road safety. “Again, the presence of women in these cases is minimal”, she has pointed out.

The city, your most common driving environment

Campaigns like this are necessary to put an end to certain myths that are still heard too often today without paying attention to the reality of the numbers. For this reason, María José Aparicio has thanked Midas for defending this role of women in driving and for the study presented ‘They drive through the City’, which has also provided other data related to mobility that, due to its importance, should not be overlooked.

“The city is the most common environment for women to drive, and this study gives us very valuable information about the habits, desires, fears and shortcomings of women in the face of the new mobility challenges. Work must be done to achieve sustainable mobility, but without forgetting that first of all it must be safe”, she explained. These training challenges have become necessary to ensure that, in the face of the sometimes drastic changes that we are experiencing, all drivers, men and women, feel safe in cities.