In fact, the UMTRI expects the number of women with driving licenses to carry on rising, despite the fact that the overall number of Americans holding a driver’s license is actually shrinking. Logically speaking, this means that the number of people with driving licenses is declining for other demographics, but which ones? The answer might surprise you, because young men between the ages of 25 and 29 are the ones experiencing highest rate of decline.

In short, the report from the UMTRI shows that the number of women between the ages of 25 and 29 getting driving licenses has fallen by 4.7% in the last 15 years, but the rate for men aged between 25 and 29 has dropped by over twice that amount – that’s 10.6%.

This is a far cry from the early days of motoring, bearing in mind at this time women didn’t even have the right to vote. Despite efforts designed to keep women off the road, a large number of ladies had a license by the 1950’s, but largely, a woman’s place was still in the home. This lack of freedom still held many of them back from experiencing the joys of the open road! If you fast forward to 1995, the number of women drivers was only just lagging behind their male counterparts, and men were finally overtaken by 2010. At this time the number of American women with driving licenses had reached 105.7 million, in comparison to 104.3 million men.

Another trend that was picked up by the UMTRI study was the fact that this gender gap varies according to age and, oddly, the number of teenagers with driving licenses has dwindled significantly in recent years.

It’s interesting to note that older American men are still managing to hold their own on the road. However, whilst the number of older men with driver’s licenses is higher, older women manage to hang onto their licenses for longer. A prime example of this is 102 year old Margaret Dunning, who made it into the headlines this year. She had been driving her Packard Roadster for an astonishing 82 years!

So, we know the number of men with driver’s licenses has dropped, but why? Well, research suggests that the economy has a lot to answer for, as cars have become more expensive in recent years, and the cost of insurance has risen sharply. Others have suggested that Smartphone technology and the internet have quelled people’s need to actually leave the house, should they feel like socialising. Women, on the other hand still regard cars as symbols of liberation, but is this really true?

It’s difficult to say, because so many factors are involved, but we know from studies and insurance companies that the driving styles of the average man and woman differ considerably. A 2011 poll by Auto & Home American Safety Pulse found that women were generally safer drivers. They received fewer penalties for reckless driving and the fatality rates for women involved in accidents was 50% lower than the fatality rate for men.

Apparently, this is something women have known for some time now, as the poll also revealed that 51% of the women asked considered their driving skills to be superior. However, men were much less confident, with only 39% claiming they were king of the road.

It appears that the women driver jokes have got it all wrong. Women don’t just outnumber men on the roads, but they’re also statistically safer drivers and have fewer accidents. Furthermore, they are  more likely to choose more fuel efficient, safer and smaller cars. So, who has the last laugh now?