Most people might blame boy racers for causing danger to other road users, but research from insurance group Swinton suggests that women are the real speed demons on the road with three quarters of females admitting to speeding.
The car insurance retailer analysed a wealth of data taken from over 300,000 online quote forms and an online survey which revealed that 72 percent of women’s convictions are for speeding – almost 10 per cent more than males.
Almost half of female drivers admit to taking the ‘amber gamble’ and driving through a red light.
Nearly 10 per cent of women said they’d used their feminine charm to flirt with police to get out of a motoring offence.
As women are commonly stereotyped as being the gender that thrives on gossip, it’s not surprising that more women than men admit to texting friends and family whilst driving (12.7%) – a crime in the UK due to the dangers it can cause through distracting the driver’s attention from the road.
The research did highlight some common traits amongst male and female drivers relating to ‘at fault’ claims with 63 per cent of men admitting ‘at fault’ claims compared to 65 per cent of women.
Despite all this, it seems males are still the risk takers on the road with ten per cent of them having points or fines on their driving licence compared to only five per cent of women.
What’s more, over 35 per cent of men admit to taking both hands off the steering wheel whilst driving to perform a task and over a third (37.8%) admitting to reaching 100mph on the motorway compared to only 28 per cent of women.
Steve Chelton of Swinton said: “While we still may not actually know who is the better driver the analysis of this data gives us a great insight into the manners and perceptions of male and female drivers.
“Both men and women need to always drive according to the rules and drive with 100 per cent of their attention on the road and their vehicle manoeuvres or else serious accidents could occur with life changing consequences.”