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Driving is a skill that comes naturally to some people, but not to others. There are many debates regarding whether men or women tend to be more skilled at operating a motor vehicle. Unfortunately, a recent report from Yahoo News suggests that men and women are both terrible drivers but in different ways. 

Both male and female drivers need to obey the rules of the road and exercise reasonable care behind the wheel. If a driver is involved in a motor vehicle collision and injures someone, the victim or surviving family members should consult with a personal injury lawyer for help making a damage claim.

Are Men or Women Worse Drivers?

According to Yahoo, insurance companies charge men a lot more to buy auto insurance. For a 25-year-old man who lives in Oakland, California and who has never gotten an accident or a ticket, his insurance costs will be around $385 higher than a woman who has the same driving profile. As the man and woman get older, the gap between the insurance premiums narrows but does not disappear. Over the course of his life, the male driver ends up paying thousands of dollars more in auto insurance premium costs.

Men do not necessarily pay more because they get into more collisions. In fact, evidence suggests that women actually tend to get into more crashes than men do, especially when factoring in that men drive more than women. A University of Michigan study reported on by Yahoo found that for every age group above 25, women had higher-rates of becoming involved in non-injury collisions than men. A study of more than 6.5 million collisions between 1998 and 2007 that the Daily Mail reported on also found that there was a higher-than-anticipated number of collisions involving two women drivers.

Women, in particular, are more likely to become involved in collisions that occur at intersections. Yet, despite this, women still pay less for insurance than men. The reason is because these crashes are routinely minor collisions and involve only property damage or minor injuries.

Men, on the other hand, generally tend to take more risks. According to a Reader's Digest report, men may actually be better at many different kinds of driving skills than women are, but they often make unsafe and high-risk choices. When they are involved in collisions, the accident is more likely to have been caused by aggressive driving or dangerous behavior. As Yahoo indicates, this means that men are more likely to total their car or to get into a very serious collision. Men account for 71 percent of the drivers killed in car wrecks, and they also drive drunk and speed at higher rates then women.

One area where female drivers are actually much worse than men: texting and driving. Female teenage drivers are around twice as likely to talk on the phone or text when they operate their vehicles as compared with their male counterparts. This technological shift may necessitate a change in insurance premiums in the future if more young women start to become involved in distracted driving crashes.

Call the Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C. at 1-800-898-HAYS to schedule a free consultation.

Drivers are expected to obey the rules of the road and behave with reasonable care. Unfortunately, many motorists drive even when they know that there is something preventing them from being safe behind the wheel. Some motorists choose to operate their vehicles despite serious mechanical problems with the car while others have a physical or mental impairment and decide to drive anyway. 

If a driver operates his vehicle when it is unsafe, he can be considered negligent and held responsible for any accidents he causes. A personal injury lawyer can represent victims of motor vehicle collisions caused by negligent drivers.

Motorists Who Drive When They Shouldn't

A recent survey of 2,000 drivers, of these motorists, 46 percent admitted to driving at least once or twice despite knowing that it was not a good idea to get behind the wheel. Eleven percent admitted they'd driven when it wasn't necessarily safe somewhere between three and ten times and three percent said they had gotten behind the wheel despite safety concerns more than 10 separate times.

There were a lot of potential reasons drivers cited for being concerned about their ability to drive safely. The motorists who were concerned about driving said that the problem that caused their concern included:

• Drowsy driving, which was the problem faced by 68 percent of drivers.
• Having a headache, which was the problem faced by 53 percent of drivers.
• Being sick enough that they should stay in bed, which was the problem of 35 percent of drivers.
• Consuming alcohol, which was the problem of 23 percent of motorists who said they drove because they were not as drunk as a friend.
• Driving without glasses or contacts, which was the problem of 16 percent of drivers who said they needed vision correction.
• Having their arm in a cast, which was the problem of eight percent of respondents.

Some motorists also reported mechanical problems that had them questioning the safety of the drives they took. Of the drivers who had mechanical issues:

• 61 percent drove with a check engine light on.
• 32 percent drove when their windshield was blocked by snow and ice.
• 26 percent drove with windshield wipers that were not working.
• 21 percent drove with a broken speedometer.
• 19 percent drove with a horn that did not work.
• 18 percent drove with headlights that did not work.
• 17 percent drove with a flat tire.
• 10 percent drove despite having a door that had to be held closed.
• Seven percent drove with a child and no required child seat.
• Six percent drove despite their car being filled with exhaust fumes.
• Five percent drove without a driver's seat or with a seat that was broken.

These motorists endanger themselves and others. Most said that they drove despite the risks because they had to go home; get to work; pick up their kids or go to a doctor. The bottom line, however, is that there is no excuse for driving when faced with safety concerns.

Call the Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C. at 1-800-898-HAYS to schedule a free consultation.