[vasudeva]

My view on lady drivers driving SUVs or for that matter any car: if there were more of them, driving speed would be lower but our roads would be a lot safer. In fact, I would say that just because they would (a) not cut lanes indiscriminately, and (b) do more lane driving (c) encroach less; traffic may actually speed up.

[Omkar0044]

wow!!
nice tread

Personally I think it's really sexy for a woman to drive a big car. And if they drive it well, then "sone pe suhaga".

I think conditioning has got a lot to do with the fact that most women prefer to get themselves a small car. They would'nt have even tried out a big car/suv. Once they do, they'd go in for a SUV I guess. Going by my experience with female drivers, that definitely seems to be the case. Yes,
driving a SUV is a little tougher because of the hard clutch, spongy brakes, hard gear shift etc but its not unmanageably hard. Once you get used to it, it's definitely not such a bother.

I have a friend who was giving me the same old gyan about how the alto is the best car for the city etc etc. But once she got behind the wheel of the scorpio, there was no holdin her back! She manged to cut through quite a bit of urban traffic w/o mowin anyone down/pushing anyone off the road/scraping the divider/cutting anyone off etc. And this was immediately after driving for 110+ kms on the expressway at 120-140kmph which also she managed w/o incident(though a verna dude did try to cause one, when his ego was hurt by a 2 ton bus driven by a lady overtakin him when he was doing around 130kmph). Till that day she had never driven anything other than the alto. And i can safely say her perceptions have changed for good.

I am from coorg and women drivin jeeps is not something that surprises me. I guess that's conditiong too. Women there are brought up to believe that drivin is as natural as walking and everybody's got to do it. Why I gave the example of my alto drivin friend is because she's not from
coorg (or punjab) and thus she'd been conditioned by the society to think that bigger size = tougher to drive and only men who are a physically stronger can manage it.

I'd just love being driven around in big car/SUV by a woman. They are safer drivers for one(as per some of the posts which cite some research material) and I think it makes a hot sight on the road. People will remember the car, the driver and the the co-driver(me!). Some MCPs might think it's un"manly" but who cares:P

[alias]

well i dont find any thing wrong with women driving suv's and big cars
as a matter of fact i ve seen quite a lot of women some times driving better then men.

for example a friend of mine drives a vtec and can give any male driver run for his money.
and my wife used to drive my turbo baleno and still does and i would say some times better than me.

[MileCruncher]

My wife drives the Bolero on & off and she does get a few stares from people on the road. I guess certain vehicles are stereotyped to be driven by men and seeing a women on the driver's seat does surprise a few people.

[msbehave]

Well, as a woman, having driven all sizes of cars in India and abroad - I have to say, I find it no different driving a SUV, large car or a M800 or Swift. I do prefer bigger cars. As do most of my female friends. The difference is in the road experience, I find that plenty of male drivers get enraged at being overtaken by me and the reaction is amplified if I'm driving a big car. Just did a 5000km+ road trip in India with another female friend in a Honda Accord- and plenty of guys tried to run me off the road/kept on trying to overtake and driving absolutely crazily to do it.

My mother is also very passionate about driving and has an AUDI A6 of her own, and boy you should see the men who try to overtake her if she's overtaken them. Major ego hassles. I don't have as many people bothering me when I'm in my Swift versus the Accord or the CRV.

Oh, and I think someone had spoken about car insurance earlier in the thread - after having lived abroad for over 8 years I wanted to say that insurance in the USA and Western Europe is cheaper for women for sure.

[McLaren Rulez]

Reading this thread, I gotta mention one thing about women who drive. If you, a man, are ever involved in an accident with a woman, there's a 90% chance that you will apologize to each other and drive on. If ever its with a man, there's a 90% chance that you'll yell and curse and maybe even trade blows. No matter how they drive, they sure are easier to deal with than men.

[Moto$apien]

Adding onto a very old discussion thread.. Gender parity has indeed come of age in current times. Ladies are quite adept at handling these so-called big cars and find them quite suited to the Indian conditions.

Just yesterday, encountered two instances of girl power!

A lady sr.executive maybe in her late 30s doing a TD of a just launched NX300h


Travelling on a road in Gurugram's outskirts, a lady driven X1 with a L-Board !


Really do wish that roads keep becoming safer for all, regardless of who is driving.

[Nav-i-gator]

I encounter a lot of ladies driving big cars like XUV's, fortuners, Audi Q's etc in Gurgaon everyday (more than any other place). One thing i have noted - bigger cars are better driven by ladies as compared to men (and vice versa for small cars like altos and wagon Rs). Summing it up - A confident and learnt (to drive) lady behind the wheels drive better than men.

[Shreyans_Jain]

It is ultimately all about experience. You develop road sense and instincts only by logging miles and miles, and this is inconsequential of gender. The situation in so many households is that women generally drive only locally, say to the market or to schools etc. On outstation trips, it is the men who usually drive. Basically, they just do not get the opportunity to drive long for hours together. And it is a hard fact that your driving skills as well as the finer details regarding seat positioning and ergonomics are mastered only when you drive for hours and hours, consistently.

Road experience is in kilometers, not in years.

Happy to say that my mother is in the outlier category here. She honed her skills on the original non power steering Tata Sumo back in the day, and has been a hardcore long distancer ever since.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by Nav-i-gator

I encounter a lot of ladies driving big cars like XUV's, fortuners, Audi Q's etc in Gurgaon everyday (more than any other place). One thing i have noted - bigger cars are better driven by ladies as compared to men (and vice versa for small cars like altos and wagon Rs). Summing it up - A confident and learnt (to drive) lady behind the wheels drive better than men.

Yes almost 10 years since the thread started attitudes and markets have changed a lot

[Bigzero]

Old article - not sure if its shared here.. Female truck drivers are a rarity in India - this lady is a pioneer of sorts.. http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...cle8639695.ece