Would Britain’s roads be safer if only women drove?

“Pft, female drivers!”

It’s an age-old trope that women are the more dangerous sex behind the wheel, while men are the prime species when it comes to driving standards.

But not only is this gender stereotype dead — or at least dying, we hope — it’s also not statistically true.

If you dig deep into the official data on driving convictions and road fatalities, you’ll discover that our streets would be much safer if only women were allowed to drive…

While the UK’s road safety record is among the best in Europe, there’s an “inconvenient truth” behind that excellent record, according to a new analysis from online vehicle sales platform Carwow.

Last measured against Europe in 2018, the UK recorded 28 deaths per million, which is the lowest of any EU country (averaging 49 deaths per million across the continent) – and the UK’s road casualty record has remained relatively unchanged in the past five year.

But statistically, our road safety credentials would almost certainly look better if only women drove, according to Carwow’s report shared exclusively with This is Money.

This is why…

Women are responsible for only 18% of all traffic violations

• WHEN ONLY WOMEN DRIVE: 62.4% reduction in total traffic violations

Figures from the Department of Justice show that 658,711 people in Britain were convicted of road traffic offenses last year. But only 18 percent were women.

Men received 539,142 of all traffic violations in 2022, compared to just 119,569 female drivers.

If only women drove, the total number of traffic offenses for which people are convicted would theoretically decrease by 81.8 percent.

However, this is based on the assumption that women would not make up for the mileage caused by the absence of men on the road.

To correct for this, Carwow made a calculation based on female drivers doubling their annual mileage to compensate for driving not driven by men.

The National Travel Survey 2021 showed that men also travel an average of 7 percent more kilometers than women.

Carwow therefore multiplied the number of convictions women are subject to by 207 percent and compared this to the total number of convictions.

In this case, 207 percent of the 119,569 traffic violations for which women were convicted in 2022 are 247,508, which is still a 62.4 percent decrease from the 658,711 traffic violations recorded last year.

Men are much more likely to be convicted of drink, drugs and dangerous driving

• WHEN ONLY WOMEN DRIVE: 59% less drunk driving; 80.9% less driving under the influence of drugs; 91.2% reduction in dangerous driving; 79.9% fewer deaths due to dangerous and careless driving

Since drunk driving is one of the most dangerous things drivers can do, official figures show that it is a crime that men commit much more often than women.

Of the 35,388 convictions last year, 28,399 were men and 6,989 were women. It means that four out of five cases of this type of offense were committed by male drivers.

Again, an increase in convictions by women by 207 percent to account for a scenario where no men were driving would result in women committing 14,467 drink-driving offenses per year — a reduction of 59 percent from of the current level.

When it comes to drunk driving convictions, women again commit far fewer offences.

Of the 22,793 registered convictions, 20,684 (90.7 percent) were men compared to only 2,109 women.

Even after making the adjustment to account for more female mileage to cover the loss of male drivers, carwow estimates there would be 80.9 percent fewer drug users.

And it’s a similar picture for dangerous driving.

Of the total of 5,172 registered convictions in 2022, 4,952 were men and only 220 were women.

If women theoretically took over all driving duties, the adjusted figures suggest a 91.2 percent drop in the type of offense.

Last year, official records show that only 39 women were convicted of causing death by dangerous or careless driving, compared to 247 men.

With women taking over traffic, there would be a 79.9 percent drop in this statistic.

Far fewer speeding tickets and cell phone use behind the wheel if only women drove

• WHEN ONLY WOMEN DRIVE: 51% fewer speeding offences; 71.4% fewer mobile phone violations

Speeding is another major cause of collisions and casualties on our roads, and this is another male-dominated type of offense.

These are the largest convictions of all for motorists, with 229,150 total in court in 2022 alone (so not including fixed speeding fines).

Of those convicted by the court, 174,884 were men and 54,266 were women, making men responsible for more than a quarter (76.3 percent) of these crimes.

Adjusted for if only women drove, there would be a 51 percent drop in speeding, the online vehicle marketplace estimates.

Regarding the use of a portable mobile phone behind the wheel, a total of 4,954 people were convicted by a court for this offense in 2022, of which 4,269 (86.2 percent) were men and 685 (11.8 percent) were women.

Adjusted for more female mileage, this would lead to a 71.4 percent drop in convictions related to using a handheld device behind the wheel.

The number of fatalities in the car is much higher for men than for women

• WHEN ONLY WOMEN DRIVE: 67.9% reduction in car occupants

Not only are men more likely to commit traffic violations; they are also more likely to experience tragedy behind the wheel.

According to preliminary DfT road casualty statistics for 2022, Last year, 530 men died traveling in a car, compared to 251 women.

Hugo Griffiths, Carwow’s consumer editor who sifted through all the numbers, said he’s “never seen such wide demographic differences” as the impact someone’s gender has on their road safety risks.

“There are certainly caveats to the data, not least because if only women ran our transportation industry, as well as our taxi and bus services, significant changes would be needed,” he explained.

“Nevertheless, given the differences between men and women like this, it’s worth thinking about why the numbers are the way they are, and whether anything can be done to reduce the greater risks men pose behind the wheel.” to deal with.’

Griffiths says the much higher driving convictions and casualties for men are partly due to younger male drivers.

“About 10 percent of all men convicted of traffic offenses are between the ages of 21 and 24, and this may be due to a lack of experience, coupled with the need some young men feel to prove themselves by impressing to make others – a fact that is also behind the government’s proposal to introduce the Graduated Driving License for young drivers.

“But no matter how you slice the data, the theme that keeps coming up is that women are much, much safer behind the wheel than men. It should be men’s responsibility to ask themselves what they can do to improve their performance in this area.’