Cheaper car insurance for women

There are lots of theories put forward to explain why women are safer drivers than men and deserve cheaper car insurance. Whereas once I might not have sought to understand the whys and wherefores but instead used this fact as a pretext for waging a tongue-in-cheek battle of the sexes, now that I am the mother of a teen-aged son, there’s no risk of me getting smug about it.

Actually, I’m deeply concerned. Globally, around 1,000 young people die in road accidents every day, with the vast majority of incidents caused by young men.

There seems to be something in young men, whether it is a gene or simply a complex hormonal cocktail, that makes them more prone to driving recklessly – or perhaps something else is at play.

Well, according to researchers from the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) in Belgium, there might be…

The researchers attempted to see if teenagers who play racing video games are more likely to go on to become reckless and excessively dangerous drivers.

Using an anonymous questionnaire to monitor driver behavior, the researchers found that those who play driving games, which, let us remember, are mostly boys, were far more likely to speed and drive recklessly once they become licensed.

Although the study shows no substantive causal link between video games and dangerous driving, it certainly provides substantive material for debate, as well as a very good reason why I didn’t buy my son the X-box he so wanted for Christmas.

Labels: cheaper car insurance