Safe Speed Forums

Found this on yahoo news today, now sit back and watch the fire works


Instructor jump starts driving debate



The county's top driving instructor has claimed that men are better drivers than women - and says he has the figures to back it up.

Chief driving examiner Robin Cummins said that Driving Standards Agency pass rates showed women needed more time and tests to pass, with the overall rate for women at 40 per cent compared with men's 46 per cent.

Mr Cummings said: "With young men there seems to be more natural ability. Some females - though not all - take a lot more teaching to be able to use the controls.

"It might be in the genes or a matter of observing mum and dad driving, or it might go back to playing with cars rather than dolls. I only know what we see."

A spokeswoman for the British School of Motoring said they had found no evidence of men learning faster than women.

She added: "The age of a learner driver has much more of an effect on their ability to pass the driving test."

The spokeswoman continued: "Although from an insurance perspective, women's lower premiums suggest that female drivers may not be as risky as male."

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'Detritus, get yer stoney arse over ere'

Someone's got about a year of sleeping on the sofa to look forward to.

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

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'Detritus, get yer stoney arse over ere'

At the risk of being flamed, I would tend to agree that men are generally better drivers than women.

IMO, many men see driving as a competitive thing and want (need?) to be thought of as good drivers. They are more likely to try to develop their skills past what they were taught on their lessons so they can 'demonstrate their prowess'.

Women, on the other hand, are more likely to see driving simply as a way of getting from A to B with the mimimum amount of hassle. As a result, less time is spent considering what extra skills they could gain and how being a more skilful driver might be useful.

It goes without saying that there are cross-overs in both groups.

I think men on the whole are better at most things than women.
No amount of PC or rants about equality will change nature.

That's a bit of an overgeneralisation, isn't it? For example, when was the last time you gave birth??



Seriously - there is nothing wrong (although in this politically correct age of positive reinforcement and formative assessment - guess who works in education - you would think otherwise) in observing and pointing out that certain people, or even groups of people, possess qualities that make them better at certain activities.

PS. My wife is a much better driver than her sister, or my brother for example, but maybe not as good as Michael Schumacher......

The pregnant thing is always brought up!
Men are better at some things than women, and vice versa. The sooner political correctness is dropped, and a common sense 'horses for courses' attitude is realised the better.

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'Detritus, get yer stoney arse over ere'

Quite right. Another bit of nonsense is the EU forcing insurers not to dicriminate on grounds of sex. So if an insurer's claims experience shows women overall make more claims, they won't be allowed to charge different compared with a same age male.

What's even worse is it is likely that unisex annuity rates will be imposed. So that even though women currently live longer than men (and so would get a lower pension for the same size fund as a male), insurers will not be allowed to take that factor into account. So even though a 65 year old woman will live on average to say, 87 and a man to 82, the EU will require them both to get the same pension pa in the future from the same amount of fund.

Which is PC madness.

Why is that? Seems very unfair.

Seriously though, is it because men spend their lives working in heavy industry etc, risk of work related chronic illness, disease, accident? Is that why there is this differential? Or is it medical, ie the different way we store our fatty deposits etc.

Perhaps the general reduction of these kind of factors through health and safety at work and the reduction of involvement of developed countries in heavy industry may redress the balance slightly.
Perhaps they are simply guarding themselves against this possible equalisation.

I don't know much about the subject. I'd be interested in other opinion about why there is this life expectancy differential. I'm 14 years older than my wife, so I could do with as much advice as possible to last a bit longer than average.

When I joined the job 14 years ago the average Bib lived 8 years beyond his retirement. Average retirement age then and now remains between 49 and 55. I hope it has improved since then.

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Fixed ideas are like cramp, for instance in the foot, yet the best remedy is to step on them.

Ian

Sounds like I joke I heard on Chris Tarrant come out with back in his Capital Radio days:

Why do men die before their wives?


Because they want to.


<Ducks and runs for cover>

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

Teehee

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Fixed ideas are like cramp, for instance in the foot, yet the best remedy is to step on them.

Ian

I can do the pregnacy thing, but show me a laydee that can father a child... or reverse into a parking space

The longest spell spent oblivious to traffic lights whilst applying make up was one of 1hr 51 mins 38 secs by Ms. Janet Dodson (GB) at a road junction in the centre of Preston on the 1st August 1975. Ms. Dodson, a piano teacher, beautified herself through 212 cycles of the lights, creating a tailback of irate motorists stretching 28 miles twords Leeds.

Har har har har, I would have gone bloddy spare

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'Detritus, get yer stoney arse over ere'

There is a Swiss woman in this household begging me to let her have my keyboard!


She has ordered me to type that


(I refuse type the "L-word! )



She has also ordered me to type




(She actually ate chocolate, marmite and gherkin sandwiches! )

my wild wife wrote:

s that the reason why she is likely to outlive me

my wild wife wrote:

is because a "superior brain lasts longer!"

(In her dreams .... in her dreams ...)

Have to type this if I want hot buttered crumpet tonight and the master bedroom.

Now you know what I put up with!

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If you want to get to heaven - you have to raise a little hell!

Smilies are contagious
They are just like the flu
We use our smilies on YOU today
Now Good Causes are smiling too!

KEEP SMILING
It makes folk wonder just what you REALLY got up to last night!

Smily to penny.. penny to pound
safespeed prospers-smiles all round! !
But the real message? SMILE.. GO ON ! DO IT! and the world will smile with you!
Enjoy life! You only have the one bite at it.

Lets face it men, we like to think we are in charge, but deep down....we know better

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'Detritus, get yer stoney arse over ere'

IanH - in fact I was a little too optimistic as the current figures for average life expectancy are worse than I'd said.

www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=168

So someone 65 would on average live to 81 if male and 84 if female. The differences have been narrowing, and some of it as you said, is due to the drastic reduction in "traditional" male manual employment.

www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1007

However obesity is likely to start reducing the continued improvement, plus there is also the factor that increasingly women are emulating a male lifestyle and so apparantly soon female heart disease will reach the level of males.

However, it's not all doom & gloom. Obviously in your job it's not easy to avoid stress, but keep yourself fit and healthy. So often when people retire they let themselves go and then it's rapidly downhill. So when you do eventually retire - keep active.

Thanks for the advice, FD, It's all common sense, really.
If I had joined this job at eighteen and a half, I could have retired later this year. I work alongside lads who are considering doing nothing once retiring. My own situation (two kids under 5) prevents that option, and I am sure my health will benefit from the compulsion to keep working.

One thing which I find annoying is the health scares we are subjected to on a regular basis, especially on food and pharmacological goods. Sudan1, Salmon, BSE, Coffee and Tea, Toast, MMR, Contraceptive pill,cocodamol, etc. etc....
They are badly publicised and leave the public with great difficulty trying to tease out the balanced view on the health implications of using or avoiding these items. I wouldn't be surprised if every time there is negative publicity about certain foods and drugs, the net result wuld be worse than if the scare had not been publicised.

I think I'll stick to my regime of 1 hours minimum cv exercise per week, 1500 miles cycling per year (mostly commuting), and a good fell walk every other week. Everything else, including my belt manages to fit in with that.

On the subject of stress, I'm sure PCs have to endure their fair share, but we do not have to consider profit, financial or sales targets, we have a regular reasonable monthly income, and a decent pension (thus far) at the end of it all. We deal with some interesting characters, but so do doctors and lawyers. I don't think we have to endure any more stress than the average working person.

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Fixed ideas are like cramp, for instance in the foot, yet the best remedy is to step on them.

Ian