Women are safer drivers than men according to industry figures, car insurance firm Sheilas' Wheels has said.

Niki Bolton, spokesperson for the firm, said that female motorists also tend to have smaller claims as opposed to the larger accidents that more often involve male drivers.

"Women are statistically safer drivers; they have very different types of accidents and claims," Ms Bolton said.

She added that "closer to home, bumps and scrapes and lower value claims" are more likely to be the kind of problems female drivers have, rather than a bigger issue that "hikes up the claim costs for men".

Home Office figures for the period between 1999 and 2003 seem to support the Sheilas' Wheels claims, with men responsible for 97 per cent of all dangerous driving convictions and 94 per cent of all car accidents involving death or bodily harm, according to the department.

Find out how female motorists run safer cars and can sign up for special motoring courses designed to improve their driving ability.

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