Toward Understanding On-Road Interactions of Male and Female Drivers

Abstract

Objective: This study examined gender effects in six geometric scenarios of 2-vehicle crashes in which an involved driver could potentially ascertain the gender of the other driver prior to the crash. Method: The actual frequencies of different combinations of the involved male and female drivers in these crash scenarios were compared with the expected frequencies if there were no gender interactions. The expected frequencies were based on annual distance driven for personal travel by male and female drivers. Results: The results indicate that in certain crash scenarios, male-to-male crashes tend to be underrepresented and female-to-female crashes tend to be overrepresented. Conclusions: The obtained pattern of results could be due to either differential gender exposure to the different scenarios, differential gender capabilities to handle specific scenarios, or differential gender expectations of actions by other drivers based on their gender. The current lack of information on gender exposure in different scenarios, scenario-specific driver skills, and driver expectations based on other drivers’ gender prevents ruling out any of these possible explanations.

Keywords:

• Two-vehicle crashes
• Gender differences
• Exposure
• Skills
• Expectations

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by the University of Michigan Sustainable Worldwide Transportation (http://www.umich.edu/ ∼umtriswt).