Women Are Actually Better Drivers Than Men, According To Delhi Police Statistics

If there was one thing that I have never been able to get over, it is the number of times I’ve heard sexist jokes about a woman’s driving skills. Just thrown across during casual conversation and the general nod of approval that has accompanied it. No matter how many times I rattle off the names of women I personally know who are fantastic drivers, I am shot down with ‘but those are exceptions – in general, women suck at driving.’

Well, guess who just got a statistical advantage over this ‘general’ observation, guys.

According to the statistics provided by the Delhi Police, in 2017, not a single woman was booked for driving under the influence. In 2018, only one has been hauled up for the offence, till now.

Surely there are women out there who have committed other traffic violations apart from drinking and driving, you ask? There are, yes. But if you truly want to compare the numbers, the total number of traffic fines issued in Delhi in 2017 is also heavily skewed against men – of the 26 lakh challans, only 600 involved women. And these do involve violations like speeding and jumping signals.

Last year, the police booked 1,67,867 drivers for jumping a traffic signal, of which only 44 were women. Only 514 women were among the 1,39,471 drivers caught for speeding.

According to a report published by a national daily, a traffic police officer said, “While analysing trends, we found women, in general, are more careful while taking turns or at intersections where the maximum number of accidents takes place.”

“This sort of road behaviour not only means women figure very low in the number of violations, but is also an example for all drivers”, the source added. 

The traffic police study on accidents indicated that only two percent of drivers involved in accidents were shown to be women. The study claimed that while speeding was the biggest killer on roads in Delhi, women were seen to generally drive within speed limits.

Women also figure as a negligible group in all other traffic offences but form a comparatively sizeable 10 percent of all accident fatalities. Delhi Police says the lower ratio of male drivers to female explains why the prosecution statistics are so biased towards males, with just one woman license holder to every 71 men in the city.

So remember ladies: the next time you find yourself being the butt of yet another ‘women can’t drive’ joke in a party, thanks to this information, you’ll be having the last laugh!

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