And you must forgive me for being cynical when I read that motor insurance has become profitable during 2013 after many lean years.
The Gender Directive arrived in December 2012 so UK insurers had a good 12 months of potentially charging female drivers more.
Coincidence or contributory factor I wonder?
Probably too soon to tell, she says trying to be charitable.
However new figures obtained by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) confirm that male drivers between the ages of 20 and 30 were the most common group to be disqualified from driving in the 12 months between July 2013 and June 2014. And you have to drive badly to be disqualified of course as in collecting too many points on your licence, driving too fast and testing positive for drugs or alcohol.
These figures were supplied by the DVLA following a Freedom of Information request and reveal the age and gender groups most commonly carrying out a driving offence that then led to a subsequent driving ban.
As of 21 June 2014…
+ 92k UK drivers were disqualified between July 2013 and June 2014.
+ Just over a third of these (c31k) were men aged between 20 and 30.
+ Fewer than 15 per cent of the overall total were females.
I’m not saying that 15% is an acceptable level but if you factor in the increase in the number of women drivers and the mileage we now do, the statistics would have been even more marked in favour of safer female motorists in the early 90s.
And let’s just set the record straight about older drivers too. While 36k drivers between 20 and 30 were disqualified in the last 12 months only 10k were in their fifties and just 4k in their sixties.
So the evidence remains clear that it is the young male drivers that are in need of better preparation for motoring.
Not to be challenged by allegations that young men are better drivers than young women because they pass their test in fewer lessons. Whilst this is undoubtedly true, hasn’t anyone else worked out that the fact that young women are generally less confident learner drivers, take longer to pass their test and need more lessons to do so makes them safer drivers? My conclusion is that the testosterone driven male confidence factor allows too many young drivers to pass their test before they are sufficiently road savvy.
This is a gender issue and the sooner we realise that young male and female motorists are equal BUT VERY DIFFERENT, and should be treated differently, the better.
Simon Best, chief executive of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: “These statistics strongly reflect the research we have already carried out in this area – that young males are very much the at risk group when it comes to driving safety.”
Hear, hear IAM.