Men were quicker to lambast the opposite sex about their driving skills. This is according to the results of the AA Motor Insurance winter poll where more than 7,500 motorists were asked to rate various categories of road users on a scale of excellent to very poor.
Overall a third of male drivers talked about their female counterparts in a disparaging light.
Negative comments about female drivers included indecision, driving too slowly, not letting other drivers out, poor reverse parking skills and use of mobile phones while driving.
By comparison, just a fifth of female motorists were derogatory about male driving behaviours and were slow to pass comment.
Bus drivers come out on top
In the same poll, Bus drivers, truck drivers and the Gardaí have been deemed the most responsible drivers on our roads in 2010.
Whilst some respondents were balanced in their responses sharing a belief that it is inaccurate to generalise, many others had no qualms in naming and shaming certain road-users.
40 per cent of respondents said they would classify bus drivers as either excellent or very good drivers.
35 per cent and 33 per cent respectively said the same for Truck/HGV drivers and the Gardaí. Respondents also rated their own driving very highly.
In fact, on a somewhat amusing note, virtually none of the 7,500 respondents labelled their own driving as inadequate.
Taxi drivers and cyclists fair badly
However, Taxi drivers received flack from respondents to the poll for blocking lanes while stopping to pick up fares, an unavoidable part of their job.
Another road user group to receive criticism was cyclists. A quarter of respondents admitted to being unimpressed with the general conduct of cyclists. Disregard for red lights, failure to stop for pedestrians when crossing at a green man, weaving lanes, use of mp3 players and non wearing of hi-vis clothing were among the gripes listed.
Younger drivers rated poorly
Younger drivers were also treated with distain by respondents of the poll. 69 per cent of respondents said that they rated their driving standards as poor whilst only 4 per cent offered any form of commendation. Again those who felt compelled to pass comment on younger drivers accused them of being more likely to speed, drive aggressively and tail gate. The poll also reveals that the majority of motorists are slow to praise elderly drivers.
