August 2009

Diva Drivers Fight Back at Gordon Ramsay’s Blasts

As celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay rants on US TV that women drivers are useless, a survey by Diva car insurance reveals women’s attitudes to male motorists.

The Hell’s Kitchen star, 42, moaned about being held up by a woman, he demanded: "Why is it ladies take so long coming out of junctions?" But an online survey of 1,000 customers by Diva, one of the UK’s leading providers of car insurance for women, found that 73% women believe that men are too impulsive at junctions.

The poll also found that 84% women think that a man driving a 4x4 is a ‘loser’ and would describe him as ‘arrogant’. Not surprisingly a further 53% of women think that men who drive 4x4s are ‘environmentally irresponsible’.

Of those questioned, 74% claim that male motorists ‘drive too fast’ and 46% believe that men ‘take risks’ behind the wheel. Of the women involved in the poll, 91% believe that men have an ‘inflated ego’ when it comes to sense of direction, and 72% think that men would rather stay lost than ask for directions.

The survey also found that 69% of women drivers think men are worse passengers than women and 68% said, given the choice, they prefer to travel with women passengers on long journeys.

Rebecca Corbett, Head of Diva car insurance for women said: “Women have always been the victim of a negative image when it comes to their driving abilities, but this research shows that men are coming under scrutiny too. Reckless attitudes towards driving, inflated egos and inability to admit when they are wrong, all seem to be having a harmful impact on our perceptions of male motorists.”