Female drivers are far less likely to receive penalty points compared to men, according to data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Over the last 10 years, female drivers received approximately half the number of penalty points received by men each year.
Last year, male drivers received a total of 34,431 penalty points, compared to 16,587 for women.
MissQuote.ie's Deirdre McCarthy said: "I think it’s fair to say that these figures show that women are more cautious and compliant on our roads.
"Year-on-year men continue to ‘outperform’ women when it comes to incurring penalty points. An analysis of the figures over a decade (2010-2019) illustrates that women drivers in Ireland have received a total of 669,157 points, while men have been hit with a whopping 1,217,346 – or 88 per cent more."
From 2010-2019, 2011 accounted for the largest portion of penalty points for female drivers (79,109), still almost 20,000 less than the men's lowest year in 2018 (98,993), while male drivers received their largest number of penalty points in 2010 (174,312).
Driving offences
Speeding and driving while using a mobile phone were the top two reasons for both genders receiving penalty points, while driving without an NCT certificate and driving without reasonable consideration took third and fourth for women, and the same positions in reverse order for men.
However, the fifth highest reason for men receiving penalty points was driving without insurance, while it was failing to obey traffic lights for women.
The data also points out that gender representation on the roads does not explain the discrepancy, as the driver divide is 53 per cent men (1.5 million) and 47 per cent women (1.3 million).
"There has been a consistent gulf over the last decade between the numbers of points received by men and women," said Ms McCarthy.
"There’s no denying that men and women behave differently on the roads, and this is evidenced by the fact that while the top two reasons for incurring penalty points are the same for both genders, the following three vary.
"Whether you’re male or female, employing safe driving behaviour on our roads is absolutely crucial, and incurring penalty points will hit you financially when it comes to renewing your car insurance policy.
"Depending on the insurer, points could typically cost you up to €250 extra in premiums, while other insurers simply won’t quote for drivers who have more than a certain number of points," she added.
