Women Drivers

As I sat in the insurance office giving my particulars in applying for insurance cover, the lady clerk said to me, “women drivers are considered to be superior drivers in Spain. They don´t cause insurance companies many problems so they get a much better rate than men”. She could not suppress a hint of a smile when she said this, or could it have even been pride?

I didn´t think too much about it at the time but it soon became clear to me where that was coming from. Principally, it’s not that women are such superior technical drivers, it’s just that men, especially young men are so incredibly deliberately bad. Except for the young girls who want to be as bad as the boys. They are super dangerous as they have something extra to prove.

Saddam Hussein didn´t even have anything in his deadly arsenal as the maxi deadly combination of testosterone and gasoline. So, our sons grown up and become eighteen, and we give them a key to a car or motorcycle and off they go, saying “I´ll be good Mom and Dad, honest I will!” The only thing that we can do that would be worse would be to give them the keys to a tank and set them free.

So, what are the most serious differences between men and women drivers in Spain that lead Spanish insurers to make such a distinction? It’s not that one sex insists on talking on the mobile while driving and the other doesn’t. It cannot even be said that women talk more than men. One of my best friends, a man insists on long conversations on the mobile. He also never stops talking to his passengers, even those in the rear seats. He even turns his head as far to the back to try to look his passengers in the face. He seems to think he’s at home in his living room.

While following a car recently the male driver was evidently involved in an animated conversation on his mobile. He held the phone to his ear with his left hand, and with his right hand he was making constant wild gestures. Even to today I have no idea how he was controlling the steering wheel.

I think that the single greatest difference can be summed up in one word: Machismo! That nutty drive that makes a man go stand in front of a raging bull that is intent on killing him. When he takes that same mind-set onto the road he becomes a serious liability to us all. Women simply don’t do that. Oh sure, I have seen girls mix in the crowd that tease a bull, but sensibly they tend to stay toward the rear.

Women drivers are generally not as aggressive as men. They can be assertive, as one must be, otherwise other traffic will drive all over you, but that’s different. That’s being constructively assertive. It’s us men who are likely to be the culprits who do things out of simple impatience. We overtake along dangerously inadequate stretches of road, and in the face of on-coming traffic. We are more likely to be the ones to drive while impaired through drink. Booze tells us that of course we can have another drink. The last one was just fine, so one for the road will be no problem.

It is booze that makes some of us think that we can sing, so under the influence we think that we can do anything. Women become over the limit faster than men. Consider this: if a woman weighs between 50 to 60 kilograms, and she takes one beer or glass of wine on an empty stomach, one hour later, when the effects of the alcohol is at its most potent, she will likely register 0.5 grams of alcohol per litre of blood. If she has held her Spanish license less than two years she will be over the limit of 0.3 grams of alcohol per litre of blood.

Although women are often found to be driving under the influence, their behaviour while impaired tends to be nearly more subdued than men. It still is dangerous, but a woman who realises she is impaired will likely take to driving very slowly, as though stepping on eggshells. A man, on the other hand turns into a Michael Schumacher out on the race-track.

I have come across several incidents of road rage, but I have yet to observe one that involved two women. Men tend to take the slightest thing as some kind of challenge to our manhood.

It simply is not true to say that women cannot read maps. My wife is a superior map reader. She is afflicted however, with one problem. She has two lefts. She will read the map the correct way up, and she will say take the next left turn. As I do so she yells “what are you doing?” I´m taking the next left like you said. Indicating right she says it’ over there. I am personally impossible at reading maps in a moving car. I cannot read any written material except the signs and the billboards without getting motion sickness.

One thing that a woman will do that a man will never be caught doing is to adjust her makeup while stopped at a red light. Now that we will not do!

Death on the Roads? It does not have to end like that!

Don´t overtake on two-way roads systems. Save your life for the ones who love you.