Researchers from the University of California have recruited one hundred volunteers from people who only recently enrolled in driving courses and drove in the amount of no more than 5 hours in their entire lives, and forced them to travel with an instructor for two hours in busy streets of Los Angeles to check who is driving more carefully and more confident: men or women, youth or adults.

Evaluation of the quality of driving scientists entrusted to professional instructors (assessed on a four-point scale, where the score of 4 meant that the person is ready to pass the exam and get a driver's license). Confidence behind the wheel of novice drivers assessed themselves. The results of the research are published in the journal PLosS One.

Age and gender It turned out that the men were driving the better the earlier they started to learn: the adolescents received 36% more excellent marks than the men who first got behind the wheel in 20-odd years (the study was conducted in the USA where the driver's license can be obtained already in 16 years). But the women of this pattern was not found: they drove the same regardless of the age at which they began to learn.

Differences in the average assessment of driving skills in men and women, the scientists did not find, but noticed that subjective estimates of confidence were very different and were much lower in female beginners than in male beginners. Previous studies have shown that middle-aged women are more attentive behind the wheel than younger men.

Sports and video games Both men and women are helped to master the driving experience in team sports: those who played American football, hockey, volleyball, baseball and lacrosse received from 2.43 to 2.66 points, and those who have never did not play in the team - from 1.6 to 1.94 points.

Perhaps this is due to the fact that team sports improve the orientation skills in space. This fact is confirmed by previous studies referred to by the authors of the paper.

But video games, apparently, do not affect the ability to drive: experienced players were at the wheel no better than those who have never played. This result has puzzled scientists, since there are a number of studies confirming that video games, like team sports, improve the orientation skills in space and generally make us smarter.