Damsels distressing on road: Survey

I was driving my two-wheeler near Polytechnic crossroads. Just before I reached the crossing, the signal lights turned red. I slowly came to a halt, when something hit my vehicle from behind and I fell down. As I got up, I realised it was a woman driving a popular small car. She paid no heed to the traffic signal and crossed the road. Even basic civility would dictate her to stop and ask if I was alright, but I got nothing more than a fleeting glance
— Abhishek Singh, 19, student.

The story of Abhishek Singh is apparently not the only one of its kind in the city. Thanks to aggressive women drivers, many people have met with accidents. A survey by Assocham has pointed out that compared to male drivers, female drivers are much more aggressive and cause more fatal accidents on the roads. The survey was conducted in 14 major cities of India in which Ahmedabad stands fourth in the list where most women admit that their driving is aggressive.

The findings are the result of a survey conducted under the aegis of ASSOCHAM's Social Development Foundation (ASDF) on "Rising stress levels during the traffic jam" in which the 2,000 respondents comprised 1,000 women and 1,000 men. Of the total, 44% were between 30 and 45 years old and 39% were between 25 and 30. Most respondents (60%) were married. The major cities included in the survey were all metros and places like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Pune, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Shimla, Dehradun, Indore, Patna, Kochi and Chennai. Delhi ranks first in 'losing temper due to choked road and poor traffic management' followed by Mumbai (2nd), Bangalore (3rd), Ahmedabad (4th) Chennai (5th), Indore (6th) and Dehradun (7th).

Of the total, 78% of Amdavadi women admitted to using their cell phones while driving, to either talk or text. Of the women surveyed, 50% said they usually text while driving and feel no hassles about it. It is also found that more women are willing to label themselves as 'aggressive drivers' than before.

The survey revealed that 40% of teenaged girls admitted that they often drive 80 kmph -- above speed limits -- compared to 36% of boys who said they drive above the speed limits.

The car driving trainer, Kiran Patel has something different to share. "For us, both men and women are clients. But in my last 10 years of experience, I have found that men usually do not take much time to learn driving. While women take time to catch up with even the rules of driving," said Patel.

The survey found that choked roads and poor traffic management in metropolitan cities are largely responsible for violent outbursts and cases of road rage. The built up frustration often erupted in the form of road rage. Honking, incorrect parking, overtaking from the other side and bad roads are other factors.

Men are by nature more aggressive, which means they lose their cool faster than women in a traffic jam. The study also suggests that while stress levels of women increase by 30%, for men it shoots up by a steep 60%. Twenty-five per cent of Amdavadi women also said that women might be fast drivers, but they are better drivers than men and they have a keen road sense. It's always men who break traffic rules and are hauled up by traffic police,  they said, and added that it's mostly men who indulge in drunken driving.