Posted on 04/21/2012 12:30:08 PM PDT by library user
Gentlemen: on a scale of one to ten, how much do you value your relationship with your wife? Girlfriend? Mother? Sister? Female co-workers? If you answered more than, say, a five, you might want to skip this article entirely, because it could get you into a lot of trouble.
You see, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently commissioned a study from the TransAnalytics research firm and the Highway Safety Research Center at the University of North Carolina. And that study found that women seem predisposed to hit the gas when they really mean to hit the brake.
In fact, the data reveals that women are twice as likely to accidentally hit the accelerator than men are.
The study looked at police data on crashes that occurred within North Carolina and at news reports on accidents that happened elsewhere. And in cases of unintended acceleration, women were at fault roughly 66% of the time.
But it’s not just women who are to blame. The study found that older drivers and younger drivers are particularly dangerous when it comes to gas-pedal accidents.
In North Carolina, those accidents were most common among persons younger than 20 and older than 76. In out-of-state news reports, though, seniors clearly cause the most mayhem, with folks over 76 blamed for 40% of all unintended acceleration accidents. (Older drivers also shouldered the blame in many of those Toyota and Lexus accidents, which led to the recall fiasco of 2010.)
Men: if you’re still reading this, please note that you’re not off the hook yet. In fact, when the number-crunchers leading the study looked at all accidents — not just those involving unintended acceleration — guys were at fault 60% of the time.
What’s behind all these numbers? Are men really more dangerous behind the wheel? Why are women more likely to be involved in gas-pedal accidents? Do women in North Carolina need to change their shoes?
We have no idea — and even if we did, we probably wouldn’t hazard a guess.
But it does raise a question we’ve already raised once today: how much good are NHTSA’s brake-override regulations really going to do?
Is this one of those “War Against Women” things? LOL!
my best guess is that it might have something to do with children fighting in the back
More importantly how much more likely are people panic and keep pressing the wrong pedal.
That seems to be where most of the damage is done.
I’ve often wondered why more of them don’t poke an eye out putting on lipstick.
That there is funny, I don't care who you are.
Actually, it wasn’t women in that age group. The two worst groups were under 20 and over 76.
With older women (the 76+ age group), I’d suspect it’s because a lot of them probably didn’t start serious driving until their husbands died or became incapacitated, and they’re just not very experienced or good drivers and tend to panic.
With teenage girls, they’re probably not paying attention.
Must be because they insist on using their left foot for the break while keeping their right foot still on the gas.
The left foot is for the clutch period!
You want to slow down or stop, take the right foot off the gas and apply the right foot to the break
High heels!
When I was a kid I remember when a neighbor (female) drove through the back of her garage and into the pool. Almost drown. Formed an early opinion in me of female drivers. Just a hunch, but of men causing more overall accidents, I wonder if that 60% is based on miles driven or just a total? I wonder also if you take drunks out what the number is.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7390665n
Obama to GOP: Now’s the time to step on the “gas”
December 5, 2011 11:34 AM
President Obama on Monday, said now is not the “time to step on the brakes,” as he urged Republicans to extend a payroll tax cut that is set to expire soon.
Does that figure account for miles driven?
Why would you take drunks out? If more men than women cause accidents because of drunk driving, then it's fair to include them.
Or did I miss your point?
“Lady, you’re transmission is shot. It’s in pieces, I’ve never seen anything this bad. What did you do?” Mechanic
“Well, you know the gears above the steering wheel. `PRNDL’?
I started out by shifting from `P’—prowl—into `Dart,’ then got on the interstate so shifted to `Leap.’
When I hit about 70 MPH I threw it into `Race.’”
I want to see the stats on how many attempts at parallel parking it takes to make a car fit. :)
Notice they don't say what percentage of the time men were at fault.
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(Yes, I am just kidding.)
The only time I saw a woman do this was my ex just at the time I was in front of the vehicle. Had to be an accident, right?
I’m a two-footed driver. Learned to drive racing go karts, then graduated to sports cars. I don’t ride the pedals either. Because of my experience, my reactions are very fast, there’s no dead time in between shifting from gas to brakes. But I don’t think I’d recommend this method for all drivers.
I am trying to start a fight about who are better drivers; men or women. ;) Just guessing that men are more likely to drink and drive than women, so I would want them in my data comparing driving skills. Of course I know it is dumb to generalize. I’ve know careless/reckless men and women drivers. What I like to tell myself is that since I used to drive somewhat recklessly myself, I better learned the capabilities of my vehicle and improved my reaction time. I can think of some close calls where I felt lucky to avoid a bad collision with my family in the car and was thankful that I reacted appropriately to the situation when called upon. Whether it was luck, God, or my hard earned skills that saved the day I’ll never know.
Whereas men are four times more likely to pass gas. It’s usually a form of entertainment rather than a mistake, however.
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