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It's often well publicised that women are safer drivers
than men, but does safer actually mean better? It's the source of great
debate and everyone has an opinion. So what is the truth behind the battle
of the sexes?
Diamond, a direct motor insurer specialising in car insurance
for women, has researched the claims differences between men and women.
Statistically women only have slightly less accidents than
men, but it's the nature of the accident which is very different. On average,
insurance companies have to pay out more for a claim from a male driver
than for one from a female driver. Diamond looked into claims costs during
2000 and 2001, and found the average claims cost for men was £1,916,
while for women the average cost was £1,546.
While it's true that women are 20% more likely than men
to reverse into another car or 21% more likely to have a collision in
a car park, however the cost of repairing these bumps is far lower than
when a car has been extensively repaired or even written off.
Men tend to have accidents which cost more. Men are convicted
of 92% of driving offences and 98% of all convictions for dangerous driving.
They are 17% more likely than women to have a head-on collision and 50%
more likely to hit a pedestrian on a pavement. As a result an accident
involving male drivers will generally be more serious, and more likely
to involve a personal injury, which causes the cost of the claim to rise
even further.
Sian Lewis, managing director at Diamond, said, "Our
research shows that men drive faster, more aggressively and have more
expensive claims than women, which is not good news for insurers. This
is why women are seen as better drivers and often pay less for their car
insurance. However, the question of whether women or men are better drivers
has been a source of long-running controversy, and I suspect it will continue
to be so for a long time to come."
Issue date: 29-04-02
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