WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Believe it or don't: More women than men break speed limits these days, according to the results of a recent survey that challenges the widely held belief that men are typically the fastest drivers.
In interviews with more than 1,000 registered drivers across the country, The Hartford Financial Services Group, a Hartford, Conn.-based investment and insurance company, found that more women than men believed it was okay to exceed speed limits.
The results surprised some at the Hartford firm who had called for the survey "to better understand our customers and what they're doing," according to George Thacker, senior vice president of personal lines marketing at Hartford Financial Services.
The findings also seemed to contradict the consensus among traffic safety authorities, who have long held that men generally drive more dangerously than women and suffer more traffic accidents and related fatalities.
"Our culture traditionally has associated young men with fast cars and fast driving," Thacker said in a statement. "But that appears to be changing."
Fifty-six percent of women between ages 18 to 24 admitted they thought it was okay to drive 10 mph over the speed limit on highways, compared to 46 percent of men, the survey found.
Fewer of those surveyed believed speeding on smaller roads was acceptable, though of this minority, 21 percent were women while 13 percent were men.
The survey, conducted by Opinionsite, an independent research company based in New York, had a 3 percent margin of error.
The survey's responses painted a substantially different picture than many other gender-related traffic safety data, including those compiled by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit organization committed to preventing traffic dangers.
"More men than women die each year in motor vehicle crashes," according to the organization's Web site. "Men typically drive more miles than women and engage more often in risky driving practices including not using a safety belt, driving while impaired by alcohol, and speeding."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, another key watchdog organization, has found similar statistics in its efforts to study driver behavior and traffic safety.
"More men than women die on the road," said Tim Hurd, a spokesman for the NHTSA. A chart on the organization's Web site illustrates that more men than women died last year in speeding-related crashes -- a trend that holds particularly true with younger men but prevailed within all age groups.
"For drivers involved in fatal crashes, young males are the most likely to be speeding," the Web site notes.
Differing from this, however, Hartford Financial's Thacker compared women to the "male hot rodder of the past," reminiscent of the archetypal leather-clad rebel James Dean, a car racing enthusiast and pop icon who himself died in a speeding-related crash at age 24.
"When it comes to driving, young women definitely appear to be living more dangerously, and like the male hot rodder of the past, they're suffering more of the consequences," Thacker said in the statement.
Thacker said 45 percent of young female respondents reported being in car accidents within the past three years compared to 33 percent of young men.
There appeared an inconsistency in Hartford's survey: More men said they had gotten speeding tickets despite the fact that more women seemed to be speeding and getting into accidents.
Asked why he thought this might be, Thacker admitted it is "a bit of a mystery. There are a half dozen or so theories." He declined to hazard a guess, leaving it open to interpretation.
In a more favorable reflection of the country's female motorists, the survey found that women are more likely to adhere to common traffic laws and drive more cautiously.
"They're more likely than their male counterparts to reduce speed when roads are wet, to avoid passing vehicles on the right and to stop when a school bus has yellow lights flashing," Thacker said.
As to why the survey produced these particular results, Thacker had "no strong hypotheses." Many at Hartford expected the percentages to be closer, with a more equal number of men and women admitting to speeding.
But insofar as why the Hartford results were generally contrary to those found and routinely cited by traffic safety authorities, Thacker offered an explanation.
The Hartford survey results were based on responses from motorists answering questionnaires rather than on official motor vehicle records, on which traffic safety authorities base their assessments.
So some might simply be stretching the truth.
"I have to tell you, my initial reaction is that the guys just aren't being forthcoming," said Christina Hughes, 23, a law student at George Washington University.
Even so, Hughes said she was not surprised by the survey's results and explained that she knew both men and women who ritually exceeded speed limits.
But did Hughes speed -- honestly?
"Yeah, in the sense that I'll go about" 10 mph over the speed limit, she said, echoing what many women admitted in the survey.
When they speed, the men Hughes knows tend to drive nearly twice as fast as she does. "I'm less likely to be pulled over" for marginally speeding, she asserted, offering one interpretation of why a majority of men told Hartford they had been ticketed for speeding.
What's more, Hughes added, "My guy friends who speed at high rates don't see any risk in it."
To an extent, fellow law student Brian Russell, 24, agreed. "Yeah, I always speed," he said. "Almost all the time. I don't really feel bad about it." But he, too, only admitted to driving 10 or 15 mph over speed limits.
The survey's results surprised Russell because, like many, he assumed women speeded less often than men. But did he think the men surveyed were dishonest? "Maybe it's true, I don't know," he said.
Outside the male dishonesty theory, it might be Hartford's finding that more men were being ticketed for speeding that could explain why fewer of them reported breaking speed limits or getting into car crashes. Perhaps they've been scared straight.
Hughes said her boyfriend was "less likely to speed than I am" because he had already been in a car accident and didn't want to be stopped by police.
Richard Laplume, 58, a postal worker from Derry, N.H., visiting Washington, D.C., with his wife Geraldine, said he has eased off the accelerator because he "just got a speeding ticket."
He added, "I'm more observant now."
As for Geraldine, yes, she said, "I go over the speed limit."
