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Women's Superior Mirror Skills 

Are Not Reflected in Their Driving Test Pass Rate 

(U.K.)

30 July, 2004

While female learners are better at checking their mirrors, they are let down by poor reversing skills on their driving test, says AA driving school, revealing men pass in a shorter time and take fewer attempts.

Keeping an eye out for other motorists may be a female speciality, with men 10 per cent more likely to make a mirror-related fault. But when it comes to reversing and turning in the road, 40 per cent more women than men will fail their test attempting these manoeuvres.

Parents with daughters may need to set aside more money to get them qualified for the road. Compared to men, women tend to take another two and a half months to pass their test, needing another 15-16 hours of tuition. 

Linda Hatswell of AA driving school says: "Statistically, men have the edge when it comes to the number of tests they take before they pass - although the difference between the sexes among 17-year-old learners is marginal, men are roughly 10 per cent more likely to pass between the age of 18 and 24. This is no bad thing, of course, as women are also proven to be safer drivers in the long run.

"Generally, men are more technically-minded and tend to pick up the practical skills more easily. Women, on the other hand, often interpret what they are taught and develop their own technique when putting it into practice, which may take a little more time."

The true disparity comes with the length of time it takes to learn to drive. The AA believes that much of that comes down to the calibre of instructor. Consequently, since it was set up, the AA driving school has been the only national school to insist that all its Instructors have first completed their training and obtained the full DSA* qualifications before beginning to teach learner drivers, giving them the experience to adapt technique to the different temperaments and abilities of learners. 

END

[Note:  * In this case, the 'DSA' refers to the British 'Driving Standards Agency', not the U.S. 'Drive and Stay Alive'! The actual comment refers to the fact that a trainee driving instructor, in Britain, is allowed to teach learner drivers ('student drivers') with intermittent supervision, as part of the trainee instructor's own learning curve, en route to full ADI** status.]

UK Department for Transport

Cohort Study of Learner and Novice Drivers

January 2004

** ADI: (UK Department for Transport) Approved Driving Instructor

***     Backing around a quiet intersection, from one street into a minor side street

****    This is commonly called a 'three point turn' ("Turning the car around, in the road, using forward and reverse gears.")

*****  The opposite of excessive speed - this is an inability to maintain enough speed to fit reasonably into the flow of traffic.

Source: The Automobile Association ('AA'), London.