Playing Dirty: Lady, get off the road
by Bonnie Ruberg 
{ Mar 29th 2007 at 11:46AM }
I admit, I have a personal beef with this "women are bad drivers" thing. I'm one of those really daring people who never goes more than five miles over the speed limit. My friend's father, on the other hand, is a "zoom down the highway" type, complete with sporty convertible. Somehow it always ends up he's circling the supermarket, searching for a parking spot, when an SUV lumbers in and blocks the way. He shouts, "Come on, lady!" From where we're sitting, he has no way of telling whether that's a man or woman. It might as well be a yeti. Gritting my teeth, I wonder: If women are such awful drivers, how come it's men who go crazy behind the virtual wheel? How come racing games are "men's" games?
Of course, I think my friend's dad and I probably have different definitions of what makes a good driver. He's not annoyed about erratic behavior, just sluggishness. Instead of cautiousness, he admires someone who can play by the rules of the road, but as quickly as possible. Anyways, how important is speed? As far as racing games go, the normal answer is very. That makes sense, if we're looking at racing games as a masculine genre. There's definitely an amount of testosterone involved in ogling cars, then driving them super fast into the sunset. It's also no surprise that plenty of games feature hot, cut-scene babes along with the automobiles. They let the player be the best he can be under real-world constraints, with real-world rewards.
Bu what about games that aren't realistic–Need for Speed, Excite Truck, Burnout, even Mario Kart? Are these types of racing titles less manly? One of the biggest elements of a game like Burnout is destruction ( Can you saw hundred-car pile-ups, plus imminent explosions? ), and we certainly think of that as masculine. But, at least for this girl, crashing cars together is a lot more fun than a realistic racing sim. So maybe, instead of assuming women are real-life bad drivers, we should look at it like this: Men like perfecting their skills at racing sims because they need the practice. Women, they're already such good drivers they can squander their free time on destruction.
Bonnie Ruberg is a writer, researcher, and all around fangirl with a big crush on games. Find more of her work at Gamasutra, The Onion A. V. Club, or her blog, Heroine Sheik. She can be reached at
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jb @ Mar 29th 2007 1:16PM
because whenever something stupid happens on the road you can bet its a female. when someone dies its probably a man.
Neal @ Mar 29th 2007 11:52AM
My sister has 8 speeding tickets, and has totaled 2 cars.
I have had no tickets ever, and my car is running great.
She has a Mitsubishi Eclipse, and I have an Acura RSX, both sporty cars.
Her insurance is still lower than mine, cause Im a guy.
In all honesty though...
I do think that people driving too cautiously is what causes acidents. The people who break hard the second a light turns yellow durring rush our traffic, the people who don't finish their left hand turn on yellow, the people go exactly the speed limit or under in any circumstance, or mostly rush hour. People (probably a lot of them guys) get very frustrated easily when they want to get home after a long days work and when people are driving at a steady 47 MPH in a 50 zone, people try to swirve around you (not you literally) and probably are at a higher risk of accident.
Adam540 @ Mar 29th 2007 11:58AM
I admit that I agree with the idea that most guys can be a little "reckless" when it comes to driving but in a controlled way. They realize that they are taking chances. With women drivers the scariest part of when I drive with a women is that she doesn't seem to be paying attention at all to whats going on around her. She's too busy waving at the friend she just drove by to notice the guy braking in front of her, she's too busy trying to change the radio station to realize she is drifting into the other lane, she is too busy trying to avoid a pothole that she doesn't notice her foot is slowly accelerating, she is too busy talking to her passinger that she doesn't notice that mailbox she is about to take out. I don't know if it's just the women I drive with but they all seem to go just as fast as the guys but never seem to have any spatial awareness. I think not knowing what is happening around you is much more dangerous then speeding.
beagle @ Mar 29th 2007 11:58AM
The point of a racing game is to win. The point of driving somewhere is to not be late. The only type of racing game in which not being late is winning would be the "beat the clock" type of game.
I can often be an angry driver, and that usually means I am going to be late wherever I go.
And as for women's skill in driving... Driving takes no skill. It just takes awareness. Guys can't drive well when they're thinking about a perfect set of supple, perky breasts all the time. Therefore, women -DO- cause all accidents. True story!
sheppy @ Mar 29th 2007 11:58AM
This just in, outdated rants are trendy once again for this editorial.
It's amazing in this day and age, when women are taking traditional vices wholesale, that they take offense to an ages old stereotype that, with each year, female faulted accidents are on a steady rise, is slowly becoming a reality.
After all, several idependant studies have found women drivers tend to be more easily distracted behind the wheel. Just as women are becoming more prone to heavy alcohol and substance abuse than men. Not to mention women are much more likely to domestically abuse their spouses than men.
But no, let's use stereotypes driven by old theories and "well, I'm this way so apparently this is a woman trait in general" logic to fuel a "why are things this way?" rant.
Intentless @ Mar 29th 2007 11:59AM
There are different perspectives of "good driver." Men look at it as in skill, women look at in as doesn't break the rules. For example, swords. A good swordsman is both the one that can take you out because of finesse and ability. But a good swordsman is also one that follows all the forms flawlessly, just may be horrible in actual combat... In other words what I am trying to say is men look at driving as a skill something to excel at. Someone that drives just below or as in the case of the woman the other day... 20 miles below speed limit...... Grrrrr..... Woman look at it as something to not break the rules at. Men get upset at woman because they tend to take their time to make absolutly sure they arn't going to cause an accident... Thats fine... in parking lots... Personally as long as you go speed limit use you blinker and don't take four days to make a turn I like you... If you drive incredibly slow, take forever to make a turn... Wait till the last second to hit the break and then spend forever turning... Think that turning the blinker on after the turn is halfway completed is good............ I could go on forever...........
Justin @ Mar 29th 2007 12:00PM
Its because women HAVE to talk on their phone when theyre driving. Ive been hit 4 times in the past 4 years by women doing exactly that. I think its because when they are driving, they usually just got done doing something that they want to talk about. I was working, and oh my god, this guy hit on me and he was so cute and I just had to give him my....smack!!!
Kye @ Mar 29th 2007 12:00PM
There are good and bad drivers of both sexes out there.
Thing is though, when there's some ill-chosen maneuver being executed, (at least the ones I've seen) chances are better than not that there is a female at the wheel (or someone from a country where buying your license is common-place... still usually a female though).
Hey, it's been proven that women are not as good as men at judging spaces and distances ;-)
AirIntake @ Mar 29th 2007 12:00PM
Women are lower risk drivers, but that's not the same as better. In order to be a good race driver, you have to take risks and push the limit of what the vehicle can do. Men tend to enjoy doing this, and end up with more crashes in the process.
Jonathan Tran @ Mar 29th 2007 12:03PM
What causes accidents is both overly cautious and overly aggresive driving. Accidents happen when peole make unpredictable changes in their direction, and other drivers are unable to react in time to prevent collision. This includes some Lee Hotti guy changing lanes every 3 seconds without signaling, as well as some granny who is going 45 mph in the fast lane. Other people are unable to react and are forced into dangerous situations.
I don't think women are bad drivers, in fact if I made a list of the worst drivers I know it'd be split 50/50. What this article misses is 1 key point:
***There is a difference between a good driver and a skilled driver when it comes to racing/games.***
A good driver stays at a reasonable speed and following distance to prevent accidents.
A skilled driver may do this, but in addition knows how to get out of a spin out at 50 mph when some moron sideswipes him/her.
Racing games encourage SKILLED driving, not bad driving (bad driving is both unsafe and unskilled). Bad driving is your friend who ALWAYS falls into the water in Mario Kart. Good driving is your friend who stops at red lights in GTA. Skilled driving is being able to play Crazy Taxi for 40 minutes on one credit.
Firegirl @ Mar 29th 2007 12:05PM
There is a running joke between me and my boyfriend. He sucks at driving in video games that we play together. We played Halo and Crackdown together, and he does a great job, until I get into the car as a passenger. He constantly runs into walls, goes the wrong way, etc. I don't know what it is, he does great on his own...maybe I'm being too much of a back seat driver...
http://www.geekgods.net
http://www.videocarnage.com
mike k. @ Mar 29th 2007 12:05PM
Or maybe women enjoy driving badly and crashing into things so they need the practice in games like burnout and crazy taxi ;). hehehe jjjuuuuust kidding!!
Really though, i think the problem isn't over-cautiousness. I think its indecisiveness caused by cautious tendencies. Things move quick, you have to make a quick decision and go with it, you can't think about it. I've avoided my fair share of accidents just by being able to react and not think about it. The indecisiveness also causes people around you to get mixed signals on what they think you're going to do, which causes accidents as well.
Intentless @ Mar 29th 2007 12:05PM
Honestly my issue is more with the elderly driving than the women... Not much of a difference... But it scares me when I see an elderly man that can barely walk and takes ten minutes just to get into his vehicle... A elderly women that can't remember where she parked her car...... Where are these people's families... It shouldn't be we have respect for them so they can keep their license it should be we have respect for the elderly so we will take care of them when they become risks to others....
mepaco @ Mar 29th 2007 12:05PM
My wife is a good driver. She is very cautious and handles the vehicle well. However, there are a lot of rules-of-the-road that she doesn't know. She didn't know what blinking yellow or blinking red lights mean at an intersection. She isn't clear on right-of-way rules either. Some of these things really bother me and can be a problem. So she is a good driver in terms of skill but is a little lacking in knowledge.
Brad Lee @ Mar 29th 2007 12:07PM
Do people REALLY still think women are worse drivers than men? This isn't a criticism, I'm just curious because I thought this myth was dead, except in the case of old people, of course. Old folks have a problem with letting go of baseless myths.
Statistically speaking women ARE better drivers than men. But really, it makes no difference at all, except on your car insurance, of course.
http://www.insurance.com/quotes/Article.aspx/Are_Men_Better_Drivers_than_Women/artid/259
There are bad drivers who are men, and bad drivers who are women. To say it makes that much a difference, one way or another, is just stupid, because it's all on the individual. But to say women as a whole are worse drivers is even more idiotic. It's time for some myth-murdering. Kill it, bury it, and give it a very cheap funeral.
Intentless @ Mar 29th 2007 12:08PM
Also teenagers driving their father's Saabs with suspended licenses.... Those really suck....
Zertoss @ Mar 29th 2007 12:10PM
The women in my area need to pay more attention to the road and less to their hair and makeup. I've almost hit and nearly been hit by so many women who just weren't paying any attention, most of which didn't even have their hands on the wheel. They also tend to drive much faster than the guys and tailgate whenever possible.
I've had significantly less trouble with male drivers, but there are plenty of bad drivers in our gender too. The worst tend to leave courtesy in the driveway and just zip from one lane to another and back again as fast as possible. Others feel the need to load up a trailer with all their rusted crap and haul it around town on the highways during rush hour at 20 mph below the speed limit.
As for realistic racing games, I'm not a fan. I play Need for Speed occasionally, but even that is still too realistic. I prefer Burnout and Mario Kart with a dash of F-Zero and Wipeout. If I wanted a realistic driving sim, I'd just go get in my car and drive. But that's only if I absolutely have to.
I hate driving.
jaysins @ Mar 29th 2007 12:11PM
For me it stems from personal experience. I've been in three accidents neither of which I caused and I'm only 21. First one, and the only one I was behind the wheel, was a guy who was 87 and had no right being on the road period and ran a stop sign and hit me. He was just way to old and really shouldn't have been allowed to drive. The second one was with a gf and didn't see a huge van and turned right into it's side. Third one was another girl that did a very similar maneuver but hit a car. Actually both girls were asian and I do not know many asian girls, only four, so I'm against women asian drivers. I can't help it. Past experiences dictate how you feel about certain things and I am against women drivers specifically afraid of the asian ones.
James @ Mar 29th 2007 12:14PM
I have been in one accident which involved four cars. The car that caused the accident was driven by a woman and the person who was hit who complained the loudest was also a woman. I'm a man.
Of the friends who's driving histories I know, by far the women have had higher rates of accidents. Darn, so much for your experience.
It's not that I dislike your viewpoint- it's that it's based on all of two people and has no numbers, studies, or even a bleeding questionaire to back it up. This isn't an article so much as a whiney rant.
mepaco @ Mar 29th 2007 12:26PM
Does anyone know if men are worse because a) a higher percentage of accidents are caused by men, b) a higher percentage of men are involved in accidents, or c) both? I could believe that if it is (a) we have a certain segment of the male population that just constantly wreck cars. I have not personally been the cause of a wreck but I know two guys that have caused around 10 between the two of them.
Kye @ Mar 29th 2007 12:26PM
While we're at it, we should have (in all countries) mandatory driving tests for everyone above 65 every 2 years. Not only would this generate much needed funds for the gov/t. But also make sure that dangerous elderlies aren't in control of a ton of metal travelling faster than a human can run.
Also, IMHO we should have a seperate driving test for high-performance vehicles. Then again this would open up the debate of "what is a high-performance vehicle?" Ferrari's definitely. Porsches would be on that list, but what about an Audi S3s or Imprezas capable of similar speeds?
pete @ Mar 29th 2007 12:28PM
@13 i know how you feel, i chick got into an accident because she didnt know her right of way rules. of course she was driving my car. i am like c'mon how do you not know that stuff, madness!
Kye @ Mar 29th 2007 12:28PM
*he notices a perculiar lack of immature fanboy rants... hmmm*
White Rose Duelist @ Mar 29th 2007 12:30PM
So your point is that we should be sexist in the exact opposite way as we have been?
I live in Boston. I don't think I've seen a good driver in five years. And yes, I'll include myself in that. 70% of people believe they are above-average drivers. I think 70% of people are wrong.
Rymix @ Mar 29th 2007 12:45PM
In my experience as a race driving instructor, women are often the better journeyers, but men are often the better drivers.
Of course, this is a particularly broad brush assertion. I have sat alongside countless men who know nothing about car control, and plenty of women who can lap up there with the fastest.
Neal @ Mar 29th 2007 12:37PM
Guys get in more accidents cause they drive much more. My GF never drives. I understand thats a good reason why her insurance is lower than mine, but this is how I feel.
Insurance is a huge scam. My insurance used to be like 3k a year with no tickets/accidents. What a load of crap.
Insurance rates should all be the same until you F@ck something up. It boggles my mind that my insurance is higher than all my female friends who have tickets and accidents, where as I have a flawless driving record (and drive way way way more than them) my whole life.
God Damnit.
Intentless @ Mar 29th 2007 12:45PM
So uh... Rymix where you at... Like to see how strong the Earnhart Blood runs through my veins......
James @ Mar 29th 2007 1:23PM
Women and men can be bad drivers but both in difference ways. Men are usually set on driving aggressively or driving like an asshole while women are more oblivious to their bad driving. I'm an angry driver because I'm chronically late but I DO respect others on the road. I try not to do anything that I wouldn't like others doing to me. Women are better multitaskers so generally they can pull off doing more things at once but doing multiple tasks while driving can always lead to trouble.
Michael @ Mar 29th 2007 12:59PM
A note to the article linked earlier by Brad Lee. It does not show anything pertaining to quality of driving. Insurance rates are determined by the likely hood of overall expense for a group of people. All this research shows, is boys cost more than girls. This makes sense, because I think we can all agree, males drive a bit faster and take larger risks. So the one terrible accident that the boy gets into, is more expensive than the 100 fender benders girls get into(numbers made up). So just because boys accidents cost more does not mean they are worse drivers. It is just when they do get into accidents, they tend to be more costly.
Now from personal experience, my wife and mine, women are worse drivers. For all the stupid chauvinistic things I say to get a rise out of my wife, when I complain about women drivers, she does not give me a dirty look, but agrees with me on the women driving issue. Women are worse drivers then men. Old people are the worst(gender stops making a difference at some point). I ride my bicycle for many purposes. In the past year, I have been hit by a car 4 times. 3 times were women, 1 time an old man(disgruntled man- threatened me with a crowbar when I tried to get him to not drive away). Two of the instances were women making turns, and not looking first(one of them made a right turn from the left turn lane), and the other was a woman making a left turn as I was coming across the street (she was talking to her friend and not paying attention, she admitted to as much after making sure I was ok).
I don't want to examine why women are worse drivers, but they are, and I guarantee that in sheer volume of accidents, the majority are caused by women(though the total cost may be more for accidents caused by men).
That is my two cents for anyone who cares.
AirIntake @ Mar 29th 2007 12:47PM
@Rymix
Well, your statement is backed up by the lack of women in auto racing. It's a sport where physical strength isn't an issue, so there COULD be equal numbers of men and women in the sport, but there just isn't.
Rymix @ Mar 29th 2007 12:49PM
Intentless: Oxford, UK. And it's Senna blood, you know that ;)
PhoenixGeek @ Mar 29th 2007 12:51PM
Anyone can be a bad driver regardless of sex, I avoid using stereotypes by refering to all bad drivers as "Fucko", so it's not hey lady, or hey dude, it's hey fucko!
Intentless @ Mar 29th 2007 12:52PM
Senna? Sorry... I was a son of a Earnhart fan... Then two months after he died my mother found that he and she had the same great grandmother... Not sure whom senna is...
CJ @ Mar 29th 2007 1:08PM
This is actually a pretty easy subject to analyze. Just go look at the actual data @ http://concordia.hss.cmu.edu/AAATreads/?source=2099
What you will find is that men have more fatal accidents, however they alo take more than twice the amount of trips in cars and drive more than twice the amount of mileage in the car. It would therefore stand to reason that the total number of fatal accidents should be more than twice as high at equal or lesser skill level. However the total number of fatal accidents is less than double so it would stand to reason that men are better drivers over all.(this is taking the high risk group of 16-20 years of age) This would likely be due to the fact that they drive more and therefore have more experience.
Just as every other skill the more you engage in an activity the better you are going to be at it. fairly straight forward, right?
Rymix @ Mar 29th 2007 12:58PM
Intentless: that's very cool. I can't claim any relationship with a legendary driver. I can't even claim to be anything other that an average racing driver myself - after all, instructors are just failed race drivers.
But I'll drink to Earnhart, Senna, and all those who died before them (and unfortunately those who will die after them).
Steve @ Mar 29th 2007 12:59PM
Ooooh, this thread is bound to cause some friction :)
I've noticed that (when I'm able to see the driver of course) I see a disproportionate number of dangerous drivers being women drivers and, to get even more specific, they tend to be the stereotypical "cutie pie" types. Oh, you know the ones: they check their picture perfect makeup and hair in the car and wear the most expensive clothing they can find. Why are they in such a hurry? I guess either [place trendy store here] just got a new shipment in from france or they need to buy the latest issue of [place entertainment magazine here] so that they know what to wear.
But in our PC times we're not allowed to notice such things so I must have completely fabricated that entire thing ;)
Zertoss @ Mar 29th 2007 12:59PM
@24 Neal
I think women get lower insurance rates because statistically they file less claims, which is where the "women are safer drivers than men" myth comes from, IIRC.
If you are driving a vehicle, you are just as dangerous as everyone else. Except drunks and druggies. They're far more dangerous.
tactics @ Mar 29th 2007 12:59PM
like all stereotypes and generalizations, 100% of women are not bad drivers.
seriously though, how many of you guys have women in your lives whom, while driving:
-can't follow directions
-can't give directions
-don't know north, south, east, and west
-often don't even know (/momentarily lapse on) right from left
-put on makeup
-constantly make non-important, non-semi-important phone calls
it's a simple question of navigation capabilities, and i've found, that as a *general rule*, women aren't as naturally attuned. simple as that. get offended all you want; it's just true (MOST of the TIME; not ALWAYS)
-"superfan" tactics.
James @ Mar 29th 2007 1:03PM
A.) I used to BURN with rage at the insurance rates I had to pay (well, OK, my dad had to pay) back when I was in high school -- my insurance was significantly more than BOTH my parents combined. Because I *had testes*. Flawless driving record (still!), no speeding tickets or anything (got 1 in college, but at this point nuthin'), and it was crazy expensive just because the industry *claims* that men cause more accidents. Which leads to...
B.) Why is it that the industry always says in surveys of claims that men cause more accidents, yet I've never talked to a person who has been involved in more male-caused accidents than female-caused accidents. At my high school (this is about 10 years ago...), there were constantly girls coming in talking about how they wrecked whatever car daddy had bought them, but I only ever heard of about 2 boys who had gotten into any accidents (though one of them killed 3 people, so...). Maybe that's the problem? Perhaps women do actually cause *more* accidents, but men cause *worse* accidents... hrm...
Dan K. @ Mar 29th 2007 1:07PM
I have yet to achieve my license at 17, but it's only cause I don't feel ready. Maybe the bad drivers are kids who simply slip through the test with just enough experience based upon the terrain the test is taken. I know the test near my town is taken in one particular area so I can almost prepare for that, but I require a lot more freeway practice :/
Intentless @ Mar 29th 2007 1:11PM
Greatest Driver of all time.... Schumacher... Being german the bond is strong....
Booxatron @ Mar 29th 2007 1:12PM
@20
Makes sense to me. In the aviation world you have to get a specific high-performance license in order to fly high-performance planes. There's a separate license rating for every different type of configuration (multi-engine, instrument, land/sea, turbine, helicopter, etc.) Not to mention that you need to take a minimum of 40 hours of documented lessons from a certified instructor just to get the most basic license. And pass a medical exam. They really ought to do the same for driving on the road, which is certainly a million times more dangerous than flying a small plane.
ginnal @ Mar 29th 2007 1:17PM
Women are also bad at logic.
Case in point you admit that women tend to be overly cautious, but then when your friend assumes its a woman being overly cautious you take issue with that.
Whether women are better drivers than men is a question of metrics.
Women have less accidents, men are probably more skillful drivers due to better spatial skills men are also more aggressive generally.
So if you're speaking from a safety perpective its almost unquestionable that women are better drivers. IF you're speaking of skill, then we can talk when theres a female Michael Schumaker.
brett @ Mar 29th 2007 1:48PM
It's not women drivers who are the problem, it's Hummer drivers.
Geoffrey @ Mar 29th 2007 1:38PM
#9 Jonathan Tran: ++
Unpredictability is absolutely the key to "bad driving". In most cases, we have certain expectations about how other people will (or should) react while driving. These are most often (at least initially) formed by how WE drive. Eventually, good drivers learn that not everyone else is also a good driver like them, and tries to build that unpredictability into the way they react to situations. If it were all overly cautious, slow-turning, passive drivers, it'd all be fine. And vice versa. "Bad drivers", just like "evil people", all come from relativistic nature of our world.
AirIntake @ Mar 29th 2007 1:38PM
My girlfriend thinks it's ok to text message while driving. "But it's just a short message to Robin! OMG!" yup, absolutely brilliant reasoning there sweetie.
Brad Lee @ Mar 29th 2007 1:42PM
@ Michael
I think you missed my intetion. My point was that statistically speaking (from what I have seen anyway) women are 'technically' better drivers, but that ultimately that doesn't matter for beans.
Women get into accidents just like men do. And I have seen no evidence to prove that there is any significant difference whatsoever between male and female drivers. The differences are usually rather minimal, so part of my point was to show that insurance companies ARE a scam.
They use any stupid little quipet of statisitcal information they can to prove 'such and such thing' is more dangerous and therefore requires you to pay a premium. Why the hell should I pay extra money on car insurance for driving a red car as opposed to a blue one?
My other point is simply that since there is no evidence of a significant difference in males or females when it comes to car accidents, this whole "who is the better driver" argument is all a lot of nonsense. All it does is further perpetuate the age-old, ever-tired gender fued which only results in increased bitterness on both sides.
These types of arguments really have no point, because no one wants to hear the other one out. It only serves as a means of venting pent up prejudices. It's really no different than the fanboy flames of "which is the better console" crap.
It only serves as a means of excessive bitching and whining, which gets rather tiring. It is kinda funny though.
Intentless @ Mar 29th 2007 1:44PM
How about instead of passing traveling and slow we have male female and old...
AirIntake @ Mar 29th 2007 1:45PM
@Brad Lee
If women are as good as men at driving, why isn't there an equal amount of men and women in auto racing?
gtpunch @ Mar 29th 2007 1:51PM
Main reason for the insurance difference; men drive further.
- If a couple go an a road trip together, the man will do the majority of the driving.
- Many more men than women drive as part of their jobs.
- If you go out with your wife/girlfriend for the evening, who drives?
More miles => more accidents => higher insurance.
As for who is the better driver, I think men and women drive badly in different ways. Women are often too hesitant wheras men are too impulsive. Strike a balance between the two and you'll be a safer driver no matter which sex you are.