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Women are worse drivers: Study

Last Updated 08 July 2011, 12:08 IST

Researchers at the University of Michigan looked at 6.5 million car crashes that took place in the US between 1998 and 2007 and found a higher than expected number of accidents between two female drivers.

They also discovered that women have a tough time negotiating crossroads, T-junctions and slip roads, the Daily Mail reported.

The results are even more surprising given that men spend more time behind the wheel than women. On average, men drive 60 per cent of the time and women 40 per cent, found the researchers.

"The results indicate that in certain crash scenarios, male-to-male crashes tend to be under-represented and female-to-female crashes tend to be over-represented," said study author Dr Michael Sivak.

For their study, Dr Sivak and his colleague Brandon Schoettle studied data from a nationally representative sample of police-reported crashes in the US from 1988 to 2007.

They discovered that accidents involving two women drivers were 20.5 per cent, while male/male crashes were 31.9 per cent and accidents involving male and female drivers stood at 47.6 per cent.

The scientists also found that women were more likely than men to crash at a junction -- their cars are often hit on the left-hand side when trying to make a right-hand turn, and vice versa.

This might be due to height difference between the sexes, said Dr Sivak. "There are three dominant driver-related factors, including the probability of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, one's own driving skills and the driving skills of the other driver involved."

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(Published 08 July 2011, 12:08 IST)

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