“SPEED cameras expose gender gap” was a headline guaranteed to generate lively discussion between the sexes over the breakfast table.
A Brunel University study, published this week, found that women are much more likely to comply with speed cameras and stick to the speed limit than men. They are also more likely to want speed cameras in their area.
Driving has always highlighted the differences between men and women. Men commit 97 per cent of dangerous driving offences and get 82 per cent of the points for speeding. But are these differences biological
or cultural? In terms of biology, both the brain and hormones are in the dock. The anatomy of the brain and how it works are different in men and women. Men’s brains are 10 per cent bigger but, of course, size isn’t everything.
Women have more intricate and extensive communications between their brain cells, particularly in the frontal cortex, the part of the brain involved in judgment and decision-making. This may partly explain why women tend not to take as many risks as men but women’s play-safe behaviour may also have something to do with their hormones. Some female hormones — progesterone, for instance — are sedating and dampen the thrill-seeking urge. But the effects of the male hormones are inflammatory in comparision, particularly in risky situations.
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The differences between men and women are not black and white. One woman in ten has a brain that is more like that of a man, while two men in five have brains more like those of a woman. Whether your brain is more male (systemising) or female (empathic) depends on how much testosterone it was exposed to in the womb. It means that some women are fearless risk-takers; think of Ellen MacArthur, for instance.
Driving, of course, exposes other gender differences. Women tend to navigate by landmarks and are not as spatially aware as men; hands up, map reading is a problem. On the other hand, the reason why men have to produce 200 million sperm in each shot surely has to be the fact that none of them will ask for directions.
But these differences are not set in stone. Learning and social experience modify the brain. For example, 30 years ago fewer women drove, had jobs or the opportunities that men had. And since that time, some of the differences between the sexes that were thought to be biological — such as men’s superior ability in maths — disappeared as soon as women were exposed to better maths teaching.
We should anticipate that more of the differences we see between sexes will disappear — and not just those evident on the road. But let’s hope that women have a moderating effect on men’s wild behaviour on the road, and not the other way round.