Gender Bias in Driving Convictions
Gender bias is alive and well when it comes to driving convictions in the UK - male drivers are almost one-and-a-half times more likely to have a motoring conviction than their female counterparts. The study also reveals that men are more than twice as likely as women to be convicted of a drink-drive offence.
One of the reasons this may be true is that men drive more than women, clocking 20% more mileage than women, on average.
Convictions are up in genersal. According to AA research 18% of the UK’s motorists have at least one conviction (compared with 14% a decade ago) and 4% have two or more.
Breaking it down by offences we have: 85% for speeding; 9% for jumping traffic lights; 2% for driving whilst over the alcohol limit; 1.5% for driving without insurance and 1.3% for driving whilst using a hand-held mobile phone.
Britain’s cleanest driving licences can be found in Northern Ireland where just 9% of men and 6% of women have committed motoring offences.
The worst drivers? The Midlands tops the motoring convictions list with 31.5% of men and 16.6% of women having transgressed.
Almost a quarter of 25 to 34-year-old males have at least one conviction and men in the 25 to 34 and 35 to 44 age brackets are equally likely to have two or more convictions.
In the case of women, those aged 35 to 44 are more likely to have picked up a motoring offence (18%).
The lower traffic convictions by women is good news for those looking for cheaper auto insurance for women. This means lower premiums.
AA insurance director, Simon Douglas, says: “Whatever your age or sex, insurers take notice of driving offences, especially multiple offenders and this is reflected in premiums.”
He adds: “That’s because regular offenders are much more likely to make an insurance claim than those who have a clean licence.”
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