Driving statistics

[Shoyru_Lover]

1) Women are better drivers then men
2) Men are 77% more likely to die in a traffic accident
3) Worst time of day to drive: 2 a.m.
4) Best time of day to drive: 8 a.m.
5) Worst day to drive: Saturday night
6) Best day to drive: Wednesday
7) Most likely to die in a traffic accident:

#1 85 year old women
#2 males 16-23

Safest passenger in a car: secured baby
9) Safest vehicle: school bus
10) Most dangerous vehicle: motorcycle

Source: Traffic STATS, conducted by the Carnegie Mellon university researchers

[theonlysaneone]

Just because men are 77% more likely to die in a traffic accident doesn't mean women are better drivers. The women could be driving, or they could be causing all of the accidents.

As for the worst time of day to drive, most bar/pubs (at least around here) close up at 1-2 am. Connection?

[Hil]

Just because men are 77% more likely to die in a traffic accident doesn't mean women are better drivers. The women could be driving, or they could be causing all of the accidents.

Yeah, that's why our insurance is cheaper, because we get into more accidents.

[whhattisthiss]

As for the worst time of day to drive, most bar/pubs (at least around here) close up at 1-2 am. Connection?

That, and more cops are out looking for drunk drivers and such.

But.. shhhwanggg! I can't wait to rub it in the faces of all the guys I know who say women are worse drivers than men.

I happen to think I'm a very good driver.

[May]

But almost every woman I know is an absolutely terrible driver (except for me, of course )

[Combusken BG]

The way I see it has everything to with alcohol.

1) Women are better drivers then men

Personally I find number 1 sexist as there are bad drivers and good drivers of both genders... well until alcohol gets into the human body's system and it will affect the person who is driving should they try to drink and drink regardless of their gender.

2) Men are 77% more likely to die in a traffic accident

That is because men are more likely to be DUI.

7) Most likely to die in a traffic accident:

#1 85 year old women
#2 males 16-23

Again that is because of alcohol.

9) Safest vehicle: school bus

Because a woman is driving the school bus and is less like to be DUI.

10) Most dangerous vehicle: motorcycle

Again how many women do you know that are going to choose DUI and whilst riding a motorcycle?

[whhattisthiss]

Combusken.. what?

I haven't heard of many 85 year old women getting plastered and going for joy rides. I mean, my grandma is in her 70s and she drinks a lot of wine, but that's only in the evening when she's home for the night (if she has so much as a sip of wine, she makes me or my mom drive her places lol), and she rarely drives anywhere.

And the school bus one.. my old bus driver was a guy O.o

[Combusken BG]

Combusken.. what?

I haven't heard of many 85 year old women getting plastered and going for joy rides. I mean, my grandma is in her 70s and she drinks a lot of wine, but that's only in the evening when she's home for the night (if she has so much as a sip of wine, she makes me or my mom drive her places lol), and she rarely drives anywhere.

And the school bus one.. my old bus driver was a guy O.o

I was refering about the males 16-23 causing the accidents by being drunk and driving since they would most kill themselves and the eldery most likely being the victims of said males 16-23 DUIs.

[Hunter Lupe]

1) Women are better drivers then men

I'd like to see how you deem someone to be a better driver -- faster? more in control of where the car is going? able to navigate? safer for people around?

2) Men are 77% more likely to die in a traffic accident

Not interesting until someone corrects this for the amount of time men/women spend in an environment where they're suceptable to dying in traffic accidents.

10) Most dangerous vehicle: motorcycle

Again how many women do you know that are going to choose DUI and whilst riding a motorcycle?

Would be interesting to see that as a fraction of women who ride a motorcycle; kind of meaningless for me otherwise (know no women who ride a motorcycle at all - so might as well note that all of the women I know to ride a motorcycle do so while being intoxicated).

The general problem with motorcycles is that, in the event things go wrong, there are virtually no safety mechanisms to prevent your head from hitting, say, some other solid object at a very high speed; whereas cars absorb most of the collision energy before you get to, so motorcycles probably have a higher overall fatalty rate in accidents.

[Sigh]

no lol, the "good driver-bad driver" thing is determined from how many accidents people get into.
None of these are really arguable lol, they are ALL based on statistics, not assupmtion or sexism

[Xandra]

Hahaha, I like how all the guys are being all "OMGZ NO THAT'S SO NOT TRUE!!!!!"

9) Safest vehicle: school bus

Because a woman is driving the school bus and is less like to be DUI.

Actually, every single school bus driver I've ever seen IRL has been a guy. :/

[benladesh]

Actually the stats a being closer and closer for men and women, apparently soon insurence costs will be a little more equal.

Again better driver can be seen many ways. More causous? Better reflexes? Reaction in situations?

[Zilary]

Hahaha...that's so interesting...

(Not to really go off topic, but I like how it's CMU students conducting this. Ahh, my number one dream college...only a month away until I know if I'm accepted or not.)

[theonlysaneone]

no lol, the "good driver-bad driver" thing is determined from how many accidents people get into.
None of these are really arguable lol, they are ALL based on statistics, not assupmtion or sexism

You've obviously never taken a class on Statistics. Stats are all about inference; you can never claim something to be absolutely certain. Not to mention, there's always the godly rule of correlation =/= causation. Just because men have more DUIs doesn't mean that's why they get in more accidents. Frankly, the population that gets DUIs is a small percentage of the driving population. Alcohol is one of many factors in the total number of car crashes.

That being said, I'm pretty sure the reason driving at 2 AM is unsafe is because of the bar crowd AND because of the dark. It's surprising that it's safer to drive at 8 AM, because that's during rush hour. I would think the safest time to drive would be at like 2 PM.

[Kugetsu]

no lol, the "good driver-bad driver" thing is determined from how many accidents people get into.
None of these are really arguable lol, they are ALL based on statistics, not assupmtion or sexism

Numbers, percentages, and ideas are meaningless if you don't have more precise statistics to back them up.

These statistics are not fact... they're somehwat laughable (some of them), and amateurish (sorry, don't care how reliable the source is, if that's how they actually worded these statistics, they did a terrible job). The wording is not professional, if it's their wording.

Also, you have to factor in alcohol consumption with driving, jobs that put people on the road in an unfavorable mental state (truck drivers, which are predominantly male), how many of gender each actually drive vehicles, which vehicles they drive in (which affects the safety of the driver and passengers), and many other things for the statistics to be "true" (which... well... is impossible)

Let's take these for example:

1) Women are better drivers then men

This is completely unprovable (or false, if you will). First, you'd have to stack up the criteria that they used to do this. Let's think, how much could they use outside of accidents? There aren't that many that have data that is actually valid, it's impossible and not human to be able to collect data that can prove this correctly, there just isn't. If you're basing it off of accidents alone, then whether that is a decent criteria or not is left up to opinion... and seeing as that is so, it can't really be fact, can it?

2) Men are 77% more likely to die in a traffic accident

What do you know, another impossible statistic! Now what is this one based off of, amount of deaths in an accident? Frailty of the male body compared to female body? Whether a female body holds up better that a male body when it hit by a side impact?

Impossible, perhaps it could be "guys die more often in accidents" or "men are more likely to get into accidents", (the wording on this "statistic" isn't great) but do put a percentage on it and to say that a guy is actually that more likely to die (which is either stating that male crashes are more severe than female crashes [which might have some truth to it], or that if a man and woman are in the same car, the male is 77% more like to die. The the latter is rather... unrealistic, and I doubt they'd use it, the first is also one of those things you CAN'T put a percentage on. Depends on the driver.

3) Worst time of day to drive: 2 a.m.
4) Best time of day to drive: 8 a.m.

These two are rather justified as there are drunks on the road at this time, mixed with the fact that people are probably tried drivers this time in the morning makes it a dangerous time. if it wasn't for the bars, however, I don't think it would be so clear cut.

8 AM... I'm kind of iffy on it, but I don't really doubt it. Probably based on the same type of statistics (accident during certain time of the day, how much traffic is out, etc.) I actually thought it would have been 9 or 10 AM, though, as 8 is a pretty busy hour of the day...

Of course, both would have to be on a clear day with no road disadvantages.

5) Worst day to drive: Saturday night

Probably due to the fact that most parties are on Saturday night. However, Saturday night is not a day... so is Saturday really the worst day of the week to drive?

6) Best day to drive: Wednesday

Mmm... I do doubt this one. I seriously doubt Wednesday is any different than Tuesday or Thursday (Monday is the "day back to work" and Friday is generally the "end of the work week" and also a party night. Of course Saturdays are dangerous, as was stated above. Sundays... not really sure on that one. Once again, not really sure how "hump day" can really be chose as the safest day of the weak (as it's dependent on drivers who are not always consistant...)

7) Most likely to die in a traffic accident:

#1 85 year old women
#2 males 16-23

#2, I believe. Partiers, drunk drivers, much of them fall in that range.
#1 ...while my grandmother is about that age, and she's a horrific driver, but are male drivers of the same age really any better? o_0

8)Cool Safest passenger in a car: secured baby
9) Safest vehicle: school bus
10) Most dangerous vehicle: motorcycle

These three are pretty predictable...

Mothers are generally cautious drivers, aren't they?
School bus drivers are also generally safe drivers, as well, it's their jobs, and buses aren't going to go down so easily due to a simple car crash (the offending vehicle, depending on what it is, will probably be more likely to be totaled)
Motorcycles? There's pretty much no safety in that, really.


It's all averages and numbers, they shouldn't be taken as fact, however, you can take the last three (baby/bus/motorcycle) and make an educated assumption based on common knowledge (it may not be fact, but... they're generally pretty close0