‘Women drivers are better, but they fail the test more often’
Report suggests ‘unconscious bias’ by male testers
WOMEN are safer drivers than men but fail the driving test more often, an analysis by an insurance brokerage website has found.
Experts at the new online insurance broker MissQuote.ie said women have fewer major road accidents or fatalities, yet far more men than women pass their driving test every year.
It said that there may be an unconscious bias against women and called for more female testers.
In 2019, 98,493 men took the test and 55,876 – a pass rate of 57%. In contrast, 87,886 women took the test, with 44,614 successful – a pass rate of 51%.
Deirdre McCarthy of MissQuote.ie said: ‘While this might not appear too big a gap if it appeared in isolation, perhaps for just one year, when we analysed the statistics from 2013 to 2018, we found a similar trend. ‘The overall number of men and women in the country is close to 50/50, but when it comes to drivers on the road there are significantly more male drivers. Less women drove years ago, that should have equalised over the years – but it hasn’t.
‘A couple of years ago, the issue of gender representation at test centres received some attention and the RSA said at the time that they were looking to address the disparity between the number of male and female driving testers,’ she said.
‘At the time, just 23 out of 138 testers were women – only 17%. We obtained an update on these figures to find they remain largely unchanged, currently standing at 114 male and 24 female testers.
‘This is perhaps an area that should be looked at again.’
Ms McCarthy questioned why more men take their driving test each year than women. ‘What we are seeing is, overall, driving test results seem to be at odds with the subsequent driving records of men and women and we want to examine factors that could be contributing to that.’
She said that ‘unconscious bias’ and a ‘lack of confidence’ could be a big part of these issues. ‘We should be championing our women drivers and giving them a sense of surety in their capabilities.’
According to 2019 CSO data, the most recent available, men account for 14% more of the full driving licences, 1.5million compared to 1.31million.
In 2018, there were three times more male road users than women who died.
Road traffic offences are also more likely to be committed by men.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns have caused a large backlog of customers waiting for a driving test, according to the Road Safety Authority (RSA). Due to the lockdown, they are only offering testing appointments to essential workers.
For those non-essential workers, who are on the waiting list, the RSA will be in contact to invite them to book an appointment when the country eases out of lockdown restrictions.
MissQuote.ie is part of the City Financial Marketing Group which also owns InsureMyVan.ie and InsureMyHouse.ie.
‘There are more male drivers’