Dubai: As the world celebrates International Women’s Day on Monday, March 8, right here in the UAE there is more positive data.
According to a survey done in the Emirates by RoadSafetyUAE via data extracted from their ‘UAE Road Safety Monitor’, a long-term perception and attitude research project that has been running for the past six consecutive years, revealed that women scored higher than men when it came to driving safely in the UAE.
For the record, the used data were extracted from several waves of the ‘UAE Road Safety Monitor’, a long-term perception and attitude research project which has been running for the last six consecutive years, conducted by YouGov (representative samples of around 1,000 UAE residents per research wave) and commissioned by RoadSafetyUAE.
Female drivers less involved in road accidents
Thomas Edelmann, founder and managing director of RoadSafetyUAE said: “Female drivers have been less involved in road accidents than male driver especially in the last six years.” Not just that, he said, more ladies in the UAE than gentlemen ‘always’ use their indicator when changing lanes, taking an exit, merging onto a highway, turning at a junction. Take this, according to RoadSafetyUAE, the number one reason for cause of death on UAE’s roads is that the act of reckless driving goes hand in hand with the non-use of indicators.
Indian expat Radica Shyam, a UAE resident for 12 years and who has been driving in the country for 10 years said she has barely had an accident — that too minor — twice in all this time. “I maintain my speed limit and drive safe. I also make it a rule to put my phone away so I don’t get distracted with messages and calls. For me driving on the road is a serious business.”
And this was confirmed by the survey which stated, that more female UAE drivers ‘never’ use their mobile phones as opposed to the male drivers. The survey also cited Dubai Police which states, female drivers seem to be more prone to distraction driving and hence the use of the mobile phone must be stopped, also to comply with the law.
Child restraint systems
According to the survey, women drivers owned proper child restraint systems. More females used these child restraint systems more often than males. Also, women drivers in UAE fell less into road rage than male drivers.
Filipina expat Judy Dmento said she was almost hit by raging male driver last week. “He was on his phone and shouting at someone and almost hit my vehicle. I was shaken up. I just controlled my steering so I don’t get distracted and drift away on the road. It took me a while to get composed.”
According to UAERoadSafety, women drivers also better understand the importance of using seat belts on the front seats. “Female front-seat passengers ‘always’ use their seat belts more often when they sit in the front as passengers. Unfortunately, for back-seat passengers the ‘always’ usage of seat belts is way too low, both for females and males,” the survey added.
Tailgating
Female drivers in the UAE ‘never’ tailgate more than males. ‘Running late’ is the key reason for women drivers to tailgate. It would be good for females to reflect on this, as at the same time they state to get nervous when they themselves get tailgated.
Speeding
Fewer women drivers received speeding fines than male. More ladies than gentlemen state to ‘never’ break the official speed limits. “Running late’ is the main reason why female drivers speed in the UAE.”
Edelmann added: “Female drivers often don’t receive the due appreciation for their driving behaviour. Gender prejudice still seems to play a role. However, an overall more careful attitude can be observed while analysing the behaviour of UAE lady drivers in most of the critical dimensions of safe driving. Yet, there are improvement potentials especially with regards to time management, and to a lesser extent seat-belt use, road rage and mobile phone calls. We took the opportunity to dedicate a new topic on our online portal.”
