Women more focussed behind the wheel than men

Sydney, Mar 17 (UNI) In a befitting reply to all those men who think women cannot drive well, a survey has revealed that the fairer sex are more focussed while behind the wheel than their male counterparts.

The survey from the motoring group NRMA revealed that when males are behind the wheel, they are often more interested in adjusting the car stereo, listening to music or even reading a map than keeping their eyes on the road.

Distracted men were more likely to have a crash or a near miss in a car than women, it showed.

The NRMA surveyed more than 1350 motorists about their driving habits and found that 30 per cent of men narrowly avoided a crash when they were not concentrating on driving, compared with 20 per cent of women, while 75 per cent of all drivers admitted to taking their eyes off the road at times to look at anything from a billboard on the side of the road to a street directory, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The main distraction was tuning the car stereo (76 per cent), followed by 70 per cent who turned their attention to music and 66 per cent who admitted to concentrating on drinking a cold beverage rather than watching the road.

Some drivers admitted to shaving, reading a newspaper, kissing and chasing insects. Eleven per cent of females admitted they had fixed their make-up while behind the wheel. Drivers admitted sifting through CDs and talking on a mobile phone without a hands-free kit, the survey found.

An NRMA director, Coral Taylor, said, ''The survey showed men were not always as focussed on driving as women.'' ''While virtually all people surveyed acknowledged that texting while driving was the most dangerous behaviour, one in five drivers admitted to doing it,'' she said.

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