Young men typically the most aggressive drivers, confirms AAA study
Research shows both men and women under 39 have the worst driving habits
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It’s long been held true that young men drive more aggressively and are more likely to engage in risky driving. The insurance rates back it up, but a new survey suggests the anecdotal evidence is backed by truth.
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A survey conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found young men were more likely to engage in hairy driving activities like risky passing, tailgating, or road-rage.
Meanwhile, close to 30 per cent of both young men and young women reported manually texting while driving at least once in the past month.
Running red-lights and cutting off other drivers were other traits common to both genders, with men eking it out by only a small margin.
Data from 2019 included responses from 2,700 surveyed individuals. They were asked questions about their engagement in any aggressive, distracted, or impaired driving behaviours recently, and tasked with rating how dangerous that activity was perceived to be.
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They were also asked if they believed infractions related to the behaviour would result in consequences, or if they had any positive or negative social stigmas.
Across the board, respondents said driving while impaired and using your cell phone was much more dangerous than speeding. However, speeding was a fairly common trait for both genders surveyed and most age groups; however, its prevalence apparently dies down later in life, since while 55 per cent of drivers aged 19 to 39 ‘fessed up to it, fewer than 40 per cent of those above the age of 75 did.
New drivers aged 16 to 18 and those aged 19 to 24 were more likely to self-report their bad habits, likely due to guilt or to lack of experience. Four in five respondents said they had engaged in aggressive driving less than 30 days before taking the survey.
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