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Men Like Us: Edi Stark, driving

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Karen Miller Karen Miller | 14:00 UK time, Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Edi Stark writes about her programme Scottish Man Behind the Wheel:

In all the years that I've been broadcasting, I don't believe I've ever asked anyone what car they drive. What profundities of personality could possibly be revealed by whether or not you drive a Honda or a Saab? And yet, when interviewed for an evening newspaper several years ago, the first question I was asked was about my car and the size of its engine. Mind you, when I tell you the article was headlined 'The Ö÷²¥´óÐã Bird', you'll get the picture... and you may have surmised that the journalist was male... or is that equally sexist?

What is undeniable is that men can be dangerously over-confident on the road. Here's some recent research from the AA:

  • Men are involved in 70% more reported accidents than women. They're almost one-and-a-half times more likely to have a driving conviction - most for speeding and twice as likely to have a drink-drive conviction
  • There are more than twice as many road casualties amongst young men than young women and
  • Men are outnumbered nearly six-to-one by women among those who seek to improve their driving through post-test confidence or refresher driver training

And according to Ewan Gillon, professor of Psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University, it's all about being macho:

'The way men are encouraged to be in the western world is to be competitive, to be aggressive, and to be top dog. That's what we are taught that masculinity is about - we have to be the winners. And cars are no different to that. When we are in a driving environment those kind of values come to the fore and therefore we will find ourselves in a driving situation competing with one another to be the top dog, to be the one that's ahead.'

So as part of Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland's Scottish Men Like Us season, we take a look through the windscreen at Scotland's male drivers and mirror signal and manoeuvre our way around what is to be a Scottish man behind the wheel.

Edi Stark and Mark Stephen with their cars

Edi Stark and Mark Stephen with their cars

Join me with fellow presenter Mark Stephen as he drives on the pavement and through an amber light; I meet the taxi driver in Glasgow who's so depressed he's clearly in the wrong job and get an antidote of laughs from who learned to drive in his forties.

And no, although they may have told me, I'm still clueless about what car any of them drive! And my car? It's blue, averages more than fifty miles per gallon and Wallace, the dog, seems very comfortable and happy ...although he has made no comment on the owner's driving ability which is good going for a male!

You can hear Scottish Man Behind the Wheel, at 1405 Thursday 16 June.

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