The steering wheel is not a privilege

The age of emancipation has given women the chance to enjoy such hitherto exclusively masculine privileges as the right to vote, to wear trousers without reprobation and the ability to look at the world through a car windscreen. But here we have to ask: how well do they justify this "high trust" placed in them? We will not go into other matters but merely concern ourselves with one aspect which is of interest in every sense of the word: the fair sex behind the wheel of a car.

It has been quite a few years since the very concept of a "woman driver" ceased to be a nonsense and has instead become a daily phenomenon. We see oriental beauties casually taking the wheel, weaving in and out of heavy traffic and tracing bold outlines on the roads and usually not forgetting to stay feminine from the tips of their manicured fingernails to their stylish hairdos. I say this not just for effect because one even comes across occasions, strange as it may seem, where women even contrive to "tart themselves up" at the wheel.

Giving way

Said Mammadov, 34, works flexible hours and so he often goes for a walk with his two-year old daughter. "I often have to cross the road with my pram," he says, "and what I see is interesting: women drivers very rarely give way to me, which is something, incidentally, that you can't say about men: they will quietly follow me, even if I am blocking their path, and they don't sound their horns in case my child is sleeping."

Sevil Hasanova, 26, an accountant, is more abrupt: "I always obey the rules of the road so there can be no reason for having a go at me if I want to assert my rights: I only cross the road on a green light and on a zebra crossing. So, never mind the fact that in our country, unlike many countries of the former USSR, and especially Europe, they don't bother to give way to pedestrians at zebra crossings, women are not inclined to do so anyway. Yes, our Caucasian men are courteous and will usually stop and let you cross, but women don't understand the simple thing - when they are behind the wheel of a car they lose all their feminine privileges."

Yana Mashkova has been driving for five years. She claims that people who drive strictly by the rules are a myth. "Of course, there are drivers who break the Highway Code, but not excessively, and they don't endanger anyone's lives or cause inconvenience. Without being overly modest I would include myself among these drivers. But I have a very negative attitude to women drivers. Women drivers may be divided into those who are completely adequate and no worse than your ordinary male driver - but there aren't many of them - and those who believe that once they get behind the wheel they are on a pleasure trip. These women are a particular nuisance to other drivers, not to mention pedestrians." Besides this, Mashkova says, whereas on narrow streets men might give way, even if they are not obliged to, women will never do so.

Three categories

However, it would be wrong to paint all women drivers with the same brush. As driving instructor Farman Namazov told R+, women drivers, when they are learning to drive, are more attentive and serious and listen and learn consistently, unlike men who can often be careless when learning.

The instructor says that from his experience women drivers may be divided roughly into three categories. The first category is the modern businesswoman, usually over 30, self-confident not only about life but behind the wheel, too. They cleverly grasp all the skills of driving, but the main thing is they know how to park. Usually women of this type don't choose too big a car but prefer one which is easy to park.

The second category, also distinguished by a commendable respect for the rules of the road, is the housewife. Naturally, these are family women and so their style of driving corresponds to their life-style: since children may often be in the car with them such women drive carefully, don't exceed the speed limit and never drive on a red light. 

And, finally, there is a group of women who are usually the target of abuse and just displeasure from the rest of us. These, Namazov says, are young women aged between 17 and 30, whose cars have been bought by their fathers or husbands. These women are usually too laid back, park where they like and usually choose large cars and, consequently, find them difficult to manoeuvre.

Offenders

As the head of the press service of the Main Directorate of the State Traffic Police, Kamran Aliyev, told R+, there are currently about 1.5 million registered drivers, approximately 40-42,000 of whom are women. A large number of offences, Aliyev says, are committed by members of the fair sex. "However, these offences are not very serious. They are usually charged with chatting on their mobiles or doing their make-up whilst driving," the head of the press service said.

Vaqif Asadov, head of the press service of the Main Directorate of the Metropolitan Traffic Police, agrees: "Women often commit offences peculiar to their sex, they can be careless." According to Asadov, of every 100 recorded offences 20% are committed by women. And when it comes to road traffic accidents, sometimes fatal ones, women are responsible for 15-18% of them.

Asadov believes the most important thing is to observe the Highway Code. "This should be paramount when driving a vehicle, whatever one's sex, because the safety of everyone - other drivers and pedestrians and those behind the wheel - depends on this."

Finally, and to "sweeten the pill": the manager of a driving school, Ibad Allahverdiyev, says that the number of women taking driving lessons is gradually increasing. So there is a hope that in the future women will take a more serious attitude to driving. Clearly, ladies are trying to be themselves in all circumstances, even at the wheel of a car. This is, of course, laudable, but best not to forget that the woman behind the wheel is above all else a driver.