Women are safer drivers than men in the UAE, survey finds

Women tend to be better drivers than men because they have been involved in fewer accidents and are more likely to obey traffic rules, a new survey to mark International Women's Day on Monday revealed.

The survey, conducted by RoadSafetyUAE, a platform that promotes safe driving and road etiquette, polled approximately 1,000 drivers as part of the UAE Road Safety Monitor perception and attitude research project, that has been running for six years.

The survey showed female drivers were less likely to speed or use their mobile phones at the wheel.

They were more likely to indicate when changing lanes, tailgate less often and were more adept at fitting a child car seat.

“Female drivers often don’t receive the due appreciation for their driving behaviour,” said Thomas Edelmann, founder and managing director of RoadSafetyUAE.

“Gender prejudice still seems to play a role, but a more careful attitude can be observed while analysing the behaviour of UAE lady drivers.”

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The survey asked male and female drivers several questions about road safety and traffic rules.

Twenty-one per cent of women and 26 per cent of men said they had been involved in a road accident in the past six months.

Seventy-one per cent of women said they indicated when changing lanes, as opposed to 65 per cent of men.

The findings also showed that 84 per cent of women regularly used child car seats compared to 70 per cent of men, with only 12 per cent of women confused about regulations regarding a child's age and weight, compared with 34 per cent of men.

Fewer women engaged in road rage (21 per cent compared with 25 per cent of men), but 81 per cent of women who did display road rage were repeat offenders, compared with 70 per cent of men.

When it comes to tailgating, men were more likely to drive too close to a vehicle, but women said they would do so more often when running late.

While a third of women said they never used a mobile phone behind the wheel, only 23 per cent of men said they put their phone away when driving.

Taking calls rather than checking messages was the main reason given for picking up a phone when driving, women said.

“There are improvement potentials [in women drivers] especially with regards to time management, and to a lesser extent seatbelt use, road rage and mobile phone calls,” Mr Edelmann said.

“Running late is the key reason for ladies to tailgate and it would be good for females to reflect on this, as they state they get nervous when they are tailgated.

“As police have said, female drivers seem to be more prone to distracted driving, hence the use of the mobile phone. This must be stopped.

“But lane swerving remains the number one cause of death on the UAE’s roads and this act of reckless driving goes hand in hand with [not] indicating.”

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