Study Shows Gender Differences in Risky Driving

Claims News Service, Nov. 20, 8:09 a.m. EST — If “men are from Mars and women are from Venus,” then the roads on which Martians tread are likely extremely treacherous. The findings of a new study conducted by Quality Planning, the ISO company that validates policyholder information for auto insurers, suggests a noticeable difference in the number and type of traffic violations received by men versus women. Specifically, the data indicates that men possess a greater propensity toward certain risky driving behaviors, such as speeding, failure to yield and so forth.

Drawing upon traffic code violations data for a one-year period, from 2007 to 2008, the study examined male and female perspectives on the laws of the road. Quality Planning analyzed 12 months of 2007 policyholder information for U.S. drivers, comparing the number of moving and non-moving violations for both sexes. Overall, the data indicates that men are much more likely to receive a traffic citation than women, and that this difference in driving behavior is consistent across all age groups.