A recent study by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute, UMTRI, showed that the number of women with driver’s licenses have surpassed the number of men with driver’s licenses. The study also showed that the current gap might continue to increase. Over the last 15 years, the time period in which the survey was conducted, the number of male drivers between the ages of 25 to 29 with driver’s licenses dropped by 10.6% while the number of female drivers between the same age group dropped only dropped 4.7%. (Source 1 and Source 2).
Researchers believe the gap, coupled with the greater decrease in young male drivers, will have great safety and economic implications now and in the near future. Women are typically safer, slower drivers and purchase their vehicles accordingly. Economically speaking, women tend to purchase smaller, safer vehicles that are more fuel-efficient. (Source 1 and Source 2).
The UMTRI study also looked at why the driver’s license gender gap has slowly been turning in the women’s favor. Even with more men born in the US than women, by a ratio of 105 to 100, women still have been able to close the gap and finally overtake it. Researchers believe that women living longer coupled with the fact that women hold on to their licenses longer, contributes to the change in the driving demographic of the US. (Source 1 and Source 2).
Another factor contributing to the gap deals with the increasing usage of the Internet. Young males are more likely than young females to want to be working on laptops, texting friends or browsing the Internet and therefore find public transportation more convenient. Finally, researchers believe that the increasing complexity of cars has decreased the number of young men working on their cars with their fathers. (Source 1 and Source 2).
Regardless of the actual reasons behind the current trend, if the driver’s license gender gap continues to widen the US roadways will look and feel different in the future.
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Sources
1.http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2012/11/12/women-drivers-men-licenses-roads/1700185/
2.http://www.nbcnews.com/business/more-us-women-men-have-drivers-license-1C7022978