More women have driver's licenses than men in US

Submitted by Mastodon on Mon, 2012-11-12 21:06

Article here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON (AP) - Women have passed men on the nation's roads. More women than men now have driver's licenses, a reversal of a longtime gender gap behind the wheel that transportation researchers say is likely to have safety and economic implications.
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"The changing gender demographics will have major implications on the extent and nature of vehicle demand, energy consumption, and road safety," predicted Michael Sivak, co-author of the study. Women are more likely than men to purchase smaller, safer and more fuel-efficient cars; to drive less, and to have a lower fatality rate per distance driven, he said.

Over the 15 years the study covered, the share of men ages 25 to 29 years old with driver's licenses dropped 10.6 percent. The share of women of the same age with driver's licenses declined by about half that amount, 4.7 percent.
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There also may be economic reasons for the shift, McGuckin's research indicates. Employment of 16- to 24-year-olds as a share of all workers has declined. At the same time, the rate of young men ages 18 to 34 years old living at home has been going up and is greater than the rate of young women living at home.

It may be that unemployment and underemployment have made auto insurance unaffordable for young men, said Alan Pisarski, author of the Transportation Research Board's comprehensive "Commuting in America" reports on U.S. travel trends. "Insurance for males under 25 is just colossally expensive," he said.'

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Comments

Really, it doesn't take a rocket scientist...

http://2010.census.gov/news/releases/operations/cb11-cn147.html

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Submitted by Matt on Tue, 2012-11-13 02:23

Quote:
"Women are more likely than men to purchase smaller, safer and more fuel-efficient cars"

Then, why do most SUVs I see on the road driven by women?

MAJ

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Submitted by digital_dreamer on Tue, 2012-11-13 09:42

and that wouldnt have anything to do with maintenance enforcement pulling drivers licenses and putting men in jail like mcdonalds serves hamburgers now would it........

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Submitted by Rog on Tue, 2012-11-13 21:48

So young men in America - through a combination of prohibitive insurance costs and a fall in earnings relative to women - are being priced off the roads, and this is seen as a good thing? Typical, and another example of the outcomes that result from 30 years or more of institutional sexism against men. And yet, who gets the blame when all these factors, particularly insurance costs, result in fewer young men participating in the labour market? Of course, young men. Have they ever though it may be too damned expensive for many young males to afford the costs of running a car nowadays, and that may result in them being forced to only search for jobs near home? I doubt it.

It seems, with all this taken into account, there's an obvious reason many young men in America are "dropping out" of work and other traditional rights of passage into adulthood and are instead opting for the Xbox, and that is that it's all they can afford!

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Submitted by sirprince on Tue, 2012-11-13 23:09