You always hear the phrase, “of course, it’s a woman driver.” Or “what did you expect from a woman driver.” I generally always took offense to that phrase not just because I am a woman but for the most part, I think all drivers have a tendency to flake out and do stupid things on the road not just women. On my way down to Colorado Springs last week, however, I decided to do an experiment after two cars were blocking the left lane of traffic on I-25 southbound near downtown. As I passed both cars on the right, I noticed – yep, you guessed it! Women drivers. So I decided to conduct an experiment to find out if the saying was mostly true. What I discovered was really unnerving to me. I am not sure if more women were just on the road on the times I decided to test out my theories or whether the old sayings are just true, but here are some of the stats I gathered from my jaunt down to the Springs and back:
Roundtrip, out of the 18 drivers I passed on the right because they were blocking up I-25 in some form or fashion, 15 were women. Each time, I passed, I was secretly praying it was not a woman. Sure enough, as I looked over briefly, I saw a woman driving.
Roundtrip, namely, Powers Blvd, on the way to base, out of 5 vehicles I had to go around, 3 were women. On the way back, one woman decided to cut me off and then put her brakes on as she approached a green light at a major intersection. On the way back, I only passed 3 cars on the right and only 2 were women. This was in addition to the woman who cut me off in the left lane only to put her brakes on.
All in all, it was an interesting experiment and one I wish I did not have to undertake but I felt obligated to because so many times I hear the derogatory comment about women drivers, I had to test it for myself. Once again, I do not know if there were just more women on the road at the time I travelled or if genuinely, they are bad drivers. Obviously, no poll or survey or experiment is without its faults but I have to say, I was pretty alarmed. I am not sure who you are women are that are giving all women drivers a bad name but I wish you would learn more courtesies and etiquette of the road.
