3.6 Comparison between genders in each group

Below are only stated significant differences between genders.

The women were considerably more educated than the men. (53% of women but only 34% of men had post-graduate education). They also lived less frequently as part of a couple (being more frequently widowed or separated). Those women who did work had executive status almost twice as frequently as the men.

The men spent more time on the road than the women (55 minutes more per day). Eight percent of the men, but only one woman, had already taken a points recovery course. The men were less often transporting children. They stated more often than women that they were less dangerous drivers than others.

The male course-takers took less care of their health than the female course-takers, they were more often smokers and more often drove after having consumed alcohol. There was no difference between the personality profiles of the males and females.

As with the course-takers, the women were more frequently widowed or separated than men, (18% of women but only 9 % of men) and more frequently without an occupation (38% of women vs 31% of men). When they did work, their status was similar to that of men.

The male controls covered significantly more kilometres and spent more time driving (60 vs 145 minutes) than the female controls. The male and female controls drove different types of vehicle: 53% of the men drove a powerful vehicle, as opposed to only 40% of the women. More than one male control in four did not have the full 12 points left on his licence, compared to one woman in 10. The men more frequently owned their vehicle than the women. The fear of losing their licence was more frequent among the men. They drove more often by themselves: the gender roles of drivers are still pronounced, women tended to drive the family’s children more than the men. Nineteen percent of them considered the ratio between charges and violations to be 1/1000, while the figure was 11% for women. The men more frequently saw their car as an extension of their office, and more frequently thought of their own driving as sporty. They reported committing more violations and having more damage-only and injury accidents than women.

Among the controls too, the men took less care of their health than the women, were more often smokers and more often drove after having consumed alcohol. More of the women reported never taking risks (31% compared with 17%), and their extroversion score was near average.