People (feminists) often see the higher car insurance rates for men and falsely extrapolate this to mean that males are worse drivers than females. This will explain why this is wrong:
1. Insurance rates are higher for men simply because men drive more. According to the DOT Federal Highway Administration, as of May 31st, 2022, men drive an average of 16,550 miles per year, whereas for women the average is 10,142 miles. The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute says there are 104.3 million men in the US with a drivers license, compared to 105.7 million women. More recent stats put those numbers closer to 115 million men and 117 million women.
2. Women cause more accidents than men per mile driven. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that men cause on average 6.1 million accidents annually compared to the 4.4 million caused by women annually. So men cause 1 accident for every 312,000 miles driven on average, and at current rates a male driver would be expected to cause an accident once for every 18.85 years of driving. Women cause 1 accident for every 269,700 miles driven on average, and at current rates a female driver would be expected to cause an accident once for every 26.59 years of driving. If women in the United States drove as much as men, and the accident rate were maintained, then female drivers would be expected to cause an accident once for every 16.29 years of driving, bringing that 4.4 million annual accidents caused by women to over 7.18 million. If men and women drove equally, and the NHTSA's 10.5 million at-fault accidents per year were maintained, women would cause roughly 5.8 million of those accidents, whereas men would cause around 4.7 million.
3. There is no real evidence that “women cause fender benders” and “men cause huge wrecks.” The spread of accident severity is identical between men and women. There is some evidence to show that men speed more, run more red lights, get more tickets, and yet they still have lower accident rates.
1. Insurance rates are higher for men simply because men drive more. According to the DOT Federal Highway Administration, as of May 31st, 2022, men drive an average of 16,550 miles per year, whereas for women the average is 10,142 miles. The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute says there are 104.3 million men in the US with a drivers license, compared to 105.7 million women. More recent stats put those numbers closer to 115 million men and 117 million women.
2. Women cause more accidents than men per mile driven. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that men cause on average 6.1 million accidents annually compared to the 4.4 million caused by women annually. So men cause 1 accident for every 312,000 miles driven on average, and at current rates a male driver would be expected to cause an accident once for every 18.85 years of driving. Women cause 1 accident for every 269,700 miles driven on average, and at current rates a female driver would be expected to cause an accident once for every 26.59 years of driving. If women in the United States drove as much as men, and the accident rate were maintained, then female drivers would be expected to cause an accident once for every 16.29 years of driving, bringing that 4.4 million annual accidents caused by women to over 7.18 million. If men and women drove equally, and the NHTSA's 10.5 million at-fault accidents per year were maintained, women would cause roughly 5.8 million of those accidents, whereas men would cause around 4.7 million.
3. There is no real evidence that “women cause fender benders” and “men cause huge wrecks.” The spread of accident severity is identical between men and women. There is some evidence to show that men speed more, run more red lights, get more tickets, and yet they still have lower accident rates.
