Not a rant here, just an observation.

I've seen six near-accidents over the last week, all at the fault of young to middle-aged women drivers. None were really due to overly reckless driving or speeding, but simply not driving defensively or understanding basic rules. Most of the extreme dangerous driving I see is committed by males, doing things like running red lights, passing in no-passing zones, and other willful and aggressive acts. These persons are endangering everybody else on the road, but at least they don't make up a sizable percentage of drivers.

I know quite a few women who I'd classify as having "logic-based" thinking, and they practically never have accidents, but I sure do see a lot of women these days thinking they have the right of way with no green arrow, turning out of order at 4-way stops, pulling out in front of traffic without looking, driving at full speed down the center turn lane, and crossing the highway centerline while putting on makeup or talking on the phone. Several of the instances I saw this past week could have been really bad if the other drivers hadn't been driving defensively.

Anybody else notice this happening more frequently? Are these drivers just more distracted than their male counterparts or do they maybe not have a real understanding of basic driving rules? Lots of real jack-wagon male drivers are certainly out there, but they sure seem to be outnumbered by pleasant young women that just aren't paying attention......

Picture this. You are in the right lane driving a 26 wheel semi weighing 100,000 pounds. You are doing the speed limit. I Jetta comes down the freeway entrance ramp behind you and there is plenty of room, maybe ten truck lengths of open space for the Jetta to merge but in your mirror you see it driving down the shoulder of the freeway on your right side. Is it passes you you see a blond woman driving with a cell phone in one hand and "talking" in the air with the other hand. There are two baby seats in the back seat. She pulls into your lane as soon as she pulls in front of you so close you cannot see the lights on the back of the Jetta then she puts on the breaks and slows to ten under the speed limit.

When I was driving this was a real situation averaging at least three times a day. I thank God I never hurt anyone nor did I ever have an accident but I have slid loads trying to stop aand keep from running them over.

Distracted driving seems to be on the increase amoungst female drivers, the vast majority of female drivers that I pass on the road are occupied with the cell phone. Seems they feel they aren't distracted by talking/texting and cannot bring themselves to put the phone down while driving. Add this to the fact that incresingly they are driving large SUVs at or above the speed limit. They seem to feel that yellow/red lights are an inconvenience and they blow thru them at ever increasing rates of speed. They drive in a non-defensive mode seeming to feel entitled
to drive however suits them with little regard for the safety of others with whom they share the road.

I know a guy who used to drive a log truck and he often said the same thing. He said he nearly rear ended lots of women who would simply pull right out in front of his fully-loaded truck. Maybe they didn't understand Newton's First Law of Motion?

This too is meant to be observation rather than rant. There are plenty of male driver's who are a danger on the road for reasons ranging from incompetence to [bleep], but there is just something "different" about many female drivers, usually those of a young age. It seems to me that more than distractedness the problem lies with a lack of understanding of the physics involved in driving. They just don't seem to be mentally in control of the vehicle.

An eighty thousand pound standard 18 wheeler takes the length of a football field to stop if he is driving 45 or less. Above 45 add both end zones. If you pull out in front of a truck remember those figures. Less than a football field and you are in his kill zone and there is nothing he can do about it.

Now before someone jumps on me and says something about semis who tailgate, those drivers who do not leave room should have their CDLs pulled, they do not belong in the seat of a tractor.

i think women think that cell phones are a natural extension of their ears, and women just have to have their mouth rattling even if they are not saying anything of consequence. I all the time see women driving one handed, talking/texting with a cellphone, and watch them pull into a parking area, exit the car, and walk in the store still talking.

I'm an agressive driver but very safe.
I didn't really believe you guys on the texting and driving for a long time. Then I saw one driving down the center of two lanes. I said what the heck is that car doing.
Got around "her" and saw her wondering all over the road trying to text.
Bet these type have a short life span

Came up on a car very quickly on my morning commute this a AM on the interstate. I was already in the passing lane having just passed a semi. As I passed the slowing car I glanced over to see a young female looking at her phone. By the time I went by she was maybe down to 45-50mph-speed limit is 70. The Semi nearly took her out as he had vehicles to his left passing him.

Oh come on, let's have a rant.

In addition to what's already mentioned, they don't come to complete stop at stop signs, don't use turn signals, don't make lane changes properly, drive slow in the fast lane, don't take control of the intersection when making left turns, driving distracted talking on cell phone or texting, turn into the wrong lane, stop in the middle of the road to gawk, stop on the on-ramp instead of properly merging when entering onto the freeway, grrrrrr.


I'm not sure that it's happening more frequently where I live. Colorado drivers have always been horrible. I don't see that it's unique to women either. Very often I see old people making these mistakes and I'm 66, so have nothing against old people. Often they are driving so timidly that they endanger everyone else. They rarely have accidents but they are often the cause of accidents.

Rant over.

KC

I am starting to see a lot of young women driving like young men. Speeding and passing like they are bullet proof.

And I have long noticed in both my truck driving and while in a car the biggest a$$ holes seem to be driving Jettas no matter what gender. I see a Jetta passing I become extra alert as there is no way to guess what they might do. I have no idea why that is.

i watch jack arses do that to truckers all the time.....have pissed off the wife a time or two cause while i do tend to drive like a bat out of hell im pretty phuggin cautious when it comes to passing people, especially semi's.....unless ive got plenty of phuggin room i dont pass....course ive also lost count how many times ive had to lock up the brakes on the pickup cause some jack arse coming the other direction doesnt bother to look before trying to pass.....have had to take the ditch twice

On cell phones and talking with their hands...always in the fast lane and often changing speeds by 20% up and down...

A lot of folks seem to think it's their right to merge onto the highway rather than their responsibility to merge safely.

Well said! I drove a semi for a couple of years (not nearly as long as you) and the fellow that helped me get started, used the football field for a teaching tool.

Your the first fellow I have heard use that example since him. It brought back some good memories of an old and departed friend. Thanks!

Amen to that one!

My observation is that talking/texting on the phone has taken the place of putting on makeup while driving, with women. Second place dangerous is people with handicap stickers on their automobile. I know that I will catch flack for saying this, as I have before, but if you will watch it, it is there. You see something unsafe happening, look first for the phone and if not that, look for the handicap sticker/tag and report back. miles

This! Have these people not noticed that the merge sign on the on-ramp is angled toward them because it's directed at them? That doesn't mean I won't make way if necessary and reasonable, but like you said, Paul, it's the responsibility of the merging driver to find a slot in traffic.

KC mentioned left hand turns at intersections. This is something that's concerned me for years. Do they not teach the right-of-way rules in driving school any more? Left hand turns have the least amount of right-of-way at an intersection. It drives me nuts when I'm sitting at an intersection and waiting to turn left and some well intentioned person tries to wave me through. I almost never will accept that courtesy because if an accident occurs, I'll be at fault as the driver with the least amount of right-of-way.

One area where I see women driving particularly badly is in parking lots. Usually it's some dolled up soccer mom with carseats in the back of her high dollar SUV with her phone glued to her ear. These types seem intent on getting into high gear before they get to the stop sign at the end of the parking lot. These types are the reason that my wife and I watch our kids like hawks when we're walking in a parking lot.

I think it would be safe to say that most women have never towed a trailer in their life. They have no clue what's involved in slowing down with a trailer attached. I've had several women pull over in front of me not but a few hundred feet from a stop light( in hopes of being 2-3 cars ahead in the "better" lane) while towing a skid steer or other heavy trailer. Also frustrates me that women seem unable to merge using the gas pedal. They get up to 55-60 and that's it, time to use the brake pedal and pull in front of someone, when simply speeding up to 70 or so would have simply and safely done the trick.

We have an intersection uptown (small town) that is a real circus. The street coming from the west (covers the two main blocks of the business district) is a one-way. The street coming from the east is a two-way up to the intersection. The approaches from the north and south are two-way. The three two-way streets have stop signs, the one-way does not. Very often, when you come from the east and stop, your blinker indicating which way to plan to go, a car coming from the west will stop and sit there, the feeble mind of the driver wondering why you don't make your turn before he/she proceeds.

I lived off a one and a half lane road with one side being basalt face and the other a couple of hundred feet straight down to a lake. I often drove a tractor with a disk, baler or rake on the back down that road. The motor homes driven my an old guy with coke bottle glasses and an oxygen line under his nose came close to sending me before the pearly gates countless times.

Wit the vertigo problems I surrendered my CDL and now let my wife do all the driving. It is hard on what ego I have left but I won't hurt anybody this way.

As far as women and their driving around semis, very few have sat in the cab of a semi and felt what it is like to have 80,000# shoving their arse down the road nor experienced what it is like to have stop that kind of weight when they're cut-off by inconsiderate drivers. Having been there and done that, I give semi drivers the room they need to drive their rigs safely.

Try it at 105,500 pounds going down an ice and snow covered mountain pass with a 7% grade.

Drive a school bus for a bit. I think cell phones should have a sensor in them that puts them in airplane mode if moving over 10mph.

This I see all the time. Just because you have your signal on doesn't mean you can merge.

I heard of some service that can be added to cell phones that disables them at any speeds above 7 mph. It's marketed toward parents with an eye toward keeping their kids focused on the road rather than the phone.

Parents need to active it on their own phone, most especially women.

If there is a single woman in the car I will say 90% of the time they are either talking or texting. I'm 48 and I can count on one hand how many times I've heard anything important come from a woman...

I'm 45 and can't come up with much of an argument on that statement.

I'll add my agreement about women drivers and cell phones: it's frightening. Men do it as well, but not nearly as often. If you see a woman driving, it's a pretty safe bet that she's on the phone as well.

I truly believe that women have heard "ladies first" so many times that they believe - at least subconsciously - that they have the absolute right-of-way everywhere and always.

It also seems to be true that despite Drivers' Ed, many women don't seem to grasp the mechanics of moving objects, cars especially. Their default response to ANY unusual occurrence is to slam on the brakes.

This is a pet peeve of mine with drivers of either sex. When you're merging onto a 70 mph highway, step on the friggin' gas pedal dammit!

Women drivers+cell phones is the BIGGEST danger on the road today..

You got it...

And nowadays we even let them fly airplanes. Every day, during my sixty mile commute, females are either on the phone or texting, in the left lane OF COURSE and at or below the speed limit.

They are a pain in the ass and were it not for the fact they have a hole(s), there'd be a bounty out on them...

One hand on the steering wheel, one holding the phone while driving in the passing lane and watching the rear mirror. When you get behind them they slow down or hit the brakes while gesturing you to get off their azz. Hint, dumbazzes: when you slow down the gap between us shrinks. Get over!

When I can get by them on the right I sometimes abruptly get back over, sometimes without signaling first, and as I pull away I'll look back to see if it gave them a clue. Sometimes it wakes them up and I see them signal and get over for the relief of the half dozen cars behind them but usually they just sit there oblivious or uncaring.

Completely F's up the flow of traffic and which makes everything more dangerous, I don't like being packed in with no lane to escape to. All so the two or three at the front can drive side by side pretending they are B17 pilots and the 190s are coming in.

Truckers and motorcyclists deserve lots of space.

No flack from me, my observation is handicap stickers or plates equates to a serious warning flag.

A Lincoln driven by someone wearing a hat (not a ball cap) is a near perfect indicator of a rolling roadblock.

Your distinction between a hat and a cap scores you huge points in my book.

Most women lack the basic situational awareness instincts. I have told my wife this many times. Whether walking around town or driving, women lack situational awareness.


Clyde

Too many drivers are oblivious, and many of those are female. Guys can be aggressive and stupid (Florida Pickup Squid being one example), but women are just, um, stupid.
BLG gets it right. Why no SITAR? Well, most men play team sports and that teaches you dynamic situational awareness, moving with the flow, anticipation and planning. Girls don't get that so much. I've found that good lady drivers I know DID in fact play roundball or lacrosse or ski (well), while the dangerous ones have very little "sporting" exposure at all.

That said, I think our roads would be a hell of a lot safer if cops focused not on speed, but on all the other violations that signal incompetence -- crossing the paint, signalling wrong, stopping out of turn, multiple lane changes, illegal turns, wide lefts, spacing, gathering a convoy, etc etc etc. Never mind TEXTING or just mindlessly yapping -- worse than drunkenness.

I drive 80 miles on I-40 just about everyday and 1/2 the drivers I notice are on the phone or looking down to texting. I see a lot of accidents running I-40.

I live in an old subdivision just outside of down town,...narrow streets, with on street parking.

There's not room for 2 cars to pass on any of these streets.

Here's what I see on a regular basis around here.

Two men meet,..the one closest to a gap in the cars parked on the street pulls over and lets the other guy by.

Both wave as a simple gesture of common courtesy.

If you meet a woman driver coming down one of these narrow residential streets, it's time to find a place to get out of her way.

She's brain dead in the middle of the road and she owns the sumbitch.

Don't expect her to deviate one iota from her path for anything and don't expect her to slow down.

She might as well be a freight train on tracks.

They have no spatial awareness. Most guys can thread the needle with their pickups. Women need a 40 acre field just to turn around.

Women are social creatures. Many women will pay more attention to the people riding in the car with them, the radio, or the phone than what is going on outside the car.

Men tend to ignore what's going on inside the car and pay more attention to what's going on in traffic around them. I believe it's just that our brains are wired differently. When I'm driving, I may be somewhere in heavy traffic that requires 100% of my attention, and my wife won't understand why I'm not listening to her. When she's driving, it's just the opposite.

Germany seems to have more aggressive drivers, but they're better and less distracted

That's a very valid observation.

The most aggressive drivers I see today are young women who appear to be less than 25 years old. Even my wife complains about women drivers.

Yesterday I had two women stop at the Yield signs going into a roundabout with no one else in the roundabout... They could not figure out who should go first!

That is no lie there. I try to pound it in the old lady's head, but it just doesn't seem to take.

She was off living on her own for a while in a downtown environment due to a promotion. I was always on her about situational awareness, and how just being aware of your surroundings (head up, making eye contact, awareness of situations, etc.) can go a long way towards those intent on doing harm to others not seeing you as such an easy target or victim, not to mention giving you a few moments to plan a response in case something does happen.

One night we're walking on a side street downtown on the way back to her place. Up ahead I see a plain somewhat beaten up van, side door open, and two less than stellar looking guys hanging out by the open door. I moved to get between what would be them and her when we walked by. We walked up to it, passed, and continued on, all the while I've got my eyes on them, using reflections in windows to make sure they didn't follow, etc. The whole time she's yammering on about something or other. When past them, I asked her what we just passed. NO CLUE. None. Head in the clouds. I climbed her ass about that a bit, and it seemed to stick a little bit after that.

God forbid she ever needed the pepper spray baton I bought her and put on her key ring. Despite telling her she should always have her keys (pepper spray) in her hand while walking alone, it was always in the purse. Arrival at home meant a 5 to 10 second dig session in the purse to retrieve the keys.

Was a good day when she moved out of there and back home.

A pet peeve of mine is women in parking lots. A woman returning to a vehicle from shopping will have to get in her car, and dick around checking makeup, looking in purse, finding her phone, whatever, for at least a good minute before she can get the car started, in gear, and get the hell out of the space...completely unaware of those around her waiting to use the space. Guys...they jump in, start it up, and move out...it's a 10 second process. Women? Plan on waiting a good minute or two.

twice in the last week I have been turning left and had a woman pass be in the turn because I wasn't going fastenough, and both times I almost hit them

My sister was the most horrific driver I've ever known. She came back with the one you here women say all the time 'I've never had an accident'

To which I replied 'Yes, but I'm sure you caused 100'


Women just don't have a clue, they really do not. Bristoe is right, it's as if they are on a set of tracks.

Teenagers of either sex are a big problem because of texting. Colorado got the no texting while driving law thru because of a teenager that ran over and killed someone while texting and driving.

tom

Yet the amazing thing to watch is the transformation that takes place when they move from the driver's seat to the passenger's seat - their powers of observation and attentiveness increase 100 fold.

"Watch out for that driver, he's turning!"

"Don't follow so closely!"

"You're driving too fast!"

"Be careful of that car coming out of the parking lot!"

"Slow down, the speed limit is only 35!"

When a woman (most often a woman) comes to a construction barricade or a lane closure, they drive slowly right up to it and stop. Then they put on their signal. And they wait, hoping that another driver - another woman, usually - will bring traffic in the moving lane to a stop (and all the cars behind her to a SCREECHING stop) to let her in. And one will.

It is also usually women who think that the best way to merge into highway-speed traffic is to come to a stop on the on-ramp.

And streets aren't considered to be streets, they're just extensions from one parking lot to the next.

Yes, driving is a severe interruption to their phone time.

Driving while talking or texting;

1st. offense, 1 year license suspension, $5,000 fine.
2nd. offense, permanent loss of license, $10,000 fine.

Same for drunk/stoned driving, same for driving with a dog in your lap.

A couple years ago a female college student left her school in Logan, UT and headed home in western ID. She was texting all the way across ID. At one point, she sent a text saying she shouldn't be doing that as it was too dangerous. Just a few minutes later, going up a steep hill, her 75 mph car rear ended a 35 mph semi in the slow lane. Witnesses said her brake lights never came on. RIP

Anyone around her has a short lifespan.

That's all we'd need is to give local governments a way to take even more cash out of our pockets. They just LOVE cell phone tickets...and it has not a thing to do with "safety". It is revenue generation, plain and simple.

I've know a ton of people who have gotten "cell phone tickets" for the following:

Picking up phone to dial a number (while speaking on hands free) at a stop light (happens a lot...they wait at lights and look for this).

Same as above in a traffic jam (car in PARK and STOPPED, LE on motorcycle).

Ticket for picking up phone to look at the time.

Ticket for using IPOD (was told it looked like a cell phone, he could fight it in court).

I got one for picking up phone to plug it into the charger...while at a stop light. LE was riding a mountain bike between cars looking into them to see if they could spot anyone holding a phone...a usual "tactic" here). Was told you "can't touch your phone while in the car". Bullchit. Show me where it's written? Usual answer..."you can plead your case in court".

Got another one for holding it in my hand on my lap while talking on speakerphone. Perfectly legal had I not been touching the phone. Spotted by LE walking between cars at a stop light and peering into vehicles.

Oftentimes they'll just say "you were handling your phone, so it's a ticket". Even though the law states you can DIAL the phone or perform other functions. They know you have to go to court, and most don't.

Happens all too often. This type of invasion of privacy pisses me off no end. If you have some kind of PC or reasonable suspicion, by all means, go out of your way to figure out why someone is driving like an azz. Otherwise mind your own fuggin' business.

Same LE in same geographical area loves to wait around crosswalks and ticket anyone who dares to pull into the crosswalk if someone is in it, even when they're at the far side of an 8 lane (4 each way with divider) road. Traffic gets backed up for a mile because the locals know they pull this chit.

If you're a pedestrian and your foot hits the crosswalk at the moment the crossing light starts to flash...ticket. Never mind you make it across with 10 seconds to spare.

I think the .gov has more than enough ways to take money out of our pockets as it is. If someone is driving poorly, by all means, take them to task. Otherwise butt the fug out.

I have NEVER seen a man stop in the middle of the road, leave their car running w/door open and get out to look at a yard sale.
But I have lost track of the amount of women who do.

Real estate signs are also danger zones.

I do tree service and lawn care for a living. If I could count the number of times that my chipper truck with the 250 bandit chipper behind it was seemingly invisible to cars, (especially high end luxury cars) I would be have counted to infinity. Twice. All I have to show for it is several sets of of brake drums with heat cracks from panic braking.

If I told you how I really feel I'd embarrass all you choir boys.

Yes sir, and this extends to around the house as well.

Not sure how many times I've come home from working all night only to find the garage door open and the entry unlocked house wide open. I get to be the bad guy for yappin' about it.

I've always thought when guys are bad drivers they are doing it intentionally, but with women it seems to be like they don't even have a clue they're doing it.

For example, when I get passed on a blind stretch of road, its usually always a guy. When someone pulls out in front of me and I have to slam on the brakes, its usually always a woman.

Nine times out of ten it is a woman tailgating me. Was on the Harley yesterday running 60mph with a woman on the cell phone about 5 feet behind me.

Yell at 'em, flip 'em the bird and they call 911 to report road rage.

And have you ever seen a woman who new what to do at a 4-way stop?

Should have never let them drive or vote!!

I'm all in with this.

The car next to me on a main highway this morning was continually slowing down and speeding up, while drifting over every few seconds to hit the rumble strip on the shoulder. When I looked across at the car, it was a 20-something brunette, looking down at her phone and texting. They can't at least wait for a red light or stop sign?

Reminds me of a comic strip I read many years ago. I don't remember what strip it was, but it had a husband and wife in a car with the husband at the wheel. He was complaining about an unseen driver, shouting, "Crazy women drivers!".

When they passed the car, the wife pointed out that the driver was a man, not a woman. To which the husband replied, "Well, he drives like a woman".

Carry some old golf balls in your pocket. When some idiot gets up close like that just drop a ball from down low at your side. Golf ball will go under car and sound like the car is about to explode. Generally they will just pull over and since the golf ball will be long gone no one but you will know what happened.

Not that I ever did this but for two years I commuted twenty miles down I-40 to collage in St Louis. Somehow I lost several golf balls during that time and I don't even golf.

Nearly similar, except the offending party, an oak tree, stepped right out in front of her. Only the tree prevented her driving right in the front door of the home.

Here in Colorado it is making a left hand turn from the right lane. I mean the far right lane crossing 2 or three lanes of traffic. And the the right hand turn from the left lanes. Same problem. Why don't people turn from the correct lane? Are lost or just not paying attention?

I can relate to this.

All the women who have hit me were female.

i spend a lot of time sitting at stop lights at busy intersections on my way to/fro work. i like to observe the cars as they cross and turn in front of me. i would estimate that 75% of the women who are rolling in their car are yacking on the phone. men, less than 10%.

Been a firefighter/paramedic 23 years.

One of the worst wrecks I've been on was a few years ago.

Young girl, 20's and a cellphone, rolled an S 10 multiple times.

The truck was in 4 pieces, engine, cab, bed and the frame.

She was literally in many pieces.

Turns out she was texting her mom when she killed herself.