Columnists | Opinion

Columnist: Responsible driving knows no gender

By Ryanne Nason

Posted on Jan. 26, 2011, at 10:31 p.m.

Ever since the first woman earned a driver’s license, we’ve never stopped hearing about the stereotype of the “typical” woman driver.

You know of her — this lady who obliviously hits parked cars, shamelessly flirts her way out of speeding tickets and unknowingly drives for miles past the scheduled oil change.

As a woman, I am thoroughly irritated when men try to classify all women as poor drivers. While women may get into their fair share of fender-benders and silly mishaps, men notoriously pay more in car insurance due to their reckless driving. It’s time that women get some credit for their skills behind the wheel.

With Danica Patrick racing her way past checkered flags, men need to get over their beef with female drivers and embrace the fact that women are just as competent and qualified when put behind the wheel. During snowstorms, women usually stay home for fear of venturing out in the blizzard-like conditions and men who take to the roads in their big, burly four-wheel drive trucks, putting themselves in more danger than necessary.

While driving in one of the recent snowstorms, I was appalled by a man I passed on the Orono roadways who was waving to me from his massive pick-up truck. He tipped his open beer can at me, tearing out onto the slick streets and causing me excessive worry for my fellow motorists.

Surrounded by drivers who were crawling at the slowest rate of speed possible, this guy looked anything but cool. To me, his actions were far worse than any sort of parking lot mishap women may find themselves getting into. With the safety of others at risk, I feel that this man should be apprehended before any woman gets discredited from bumping into a few measly parked cars.

With the knowledge that twice as many men as women die in vehicular accidents according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it makes little sense as to why women would be wrongfully accused of being poor drivers. It seems our primary concern should be the health and well-being of other motorists and their passengers — not the petty argument over minor scrapes and dents that caused little, if any, bodily injury.

Men should be concerned about this alarmingly high rate of death among their gender — knowing they are at high risk of death from driving should be enough to stop the snarky stabs at women.

I can only imagine that men wish to not be overly shunned for their driving mishaps, and it’s only fair that they do the same for women, however lighthearted the remark may be. Instead of making women feel inferior about their driving skills and questioning every move they make on the road, it would be interesting to see if any significant difference would be observed if women were encouraged and accepted for their driving skills.

So men, before you make a snide remark about a woman’s driving, think of the driving of your own gender. While it is unfair to judge a large group of people based on a few bad apples, the proof is in the pudding.

Rarely do you see women involved in the grandiose mortality statistics that riddle the male driving population, yet they take the brunt of so many unnecessary jokes about their lack of vehicular skills.

Admittedly, I am not the best driver around, but I am proud to say I have never caused serious bodily injury to any of my passengers or fellow motorists. While my driving record shows a fair amount of minor bumps and bruises, it’s not anything that could live up to the legendary title men use to label female drivers. Let us all seek to be better drivers and make wise decisions before we head onto the highway, despite our gendered perspectives on driving.

The life you save could be your own.

Ryanne Nason is a fourth-year mass communications student. Her columns will appear every Thursday.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 26th, 2011, 10:31 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.