Men are notably more confident drivers despite being three times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash, according to the Automobile Association (AA).
The AA’s survey of its members found that almost twice as many men as women regarded their driving skills as above average, a pattern repeated in driving in adverse conditions such as in ice, fog or flood water.
Some 30 per cent of men described their driving as “well above average”; the equivalent figure for women is 17 per cent.
The survey is based on four years of online polls conducted by the AA, which claims that it is a representative sample of the driving habits of both sexes.
AA director of consumer affairs Conor Faughan said the results showed that the European Court of Justice was wrong to insist on equal insurance premiums for men and women.
“The simple fact remains that they are the group most likely to crash,” he said.
“We’ve been engaging with drivers for many years now gaining invaluable information on driving trends and patterns and this is the first time we’ve consolidated this information into one single report, a report that paints a very telling picture in terms of gender and risk.”
Men are also more likely to break the law in relation to motoring matters.
While 71 per cent of women said they refrain from drink-driving entirely, just 59 per cent of men did likewise.
The report found that men are more likely to run the risk of driving the morning after the night before while unsure whether or not their blood alcohol levels had returned to within legally permissible limits.
Some 28 per cent of men said they’d had a near miss/collision as a result of looking at an attractive woman, by far the cause of the highest percentage of distraction leading to a near miss.
