Who Drives?

[bobk]

When you and your spouse are in the car together, who usually does the driving? Growing up, it always seems like the man did the driving by default, but I've noticed recently that when I see young couples (esp. college aged) driving around, maybe 9 out 10 times the woman is driving. I'm curious if other people have observed this as well. If it is true that women drive most of the time, why is that? Are women feeling more empowered? Are men getting lazy? is the woman more likely to own the vehicle? Discuss.

[MrsK]

DrK drives. I hate driving. I'm just not very good at it. And I'm so notorious for driving into garage doors whenever I'm pregnant that long time imsners order me to pee on a stick every time I have a fender bender and my friends tease me for parking my car on the driveway every day since K2 was born.

[MrsK]

I should add, DrK objects to this and he wishes I'd drive more often.

[Pollyanna]

Dh drives whenever we go places. (DS16 practiced driving with only his left hand so he can hold his girlfriend's hand while he drives.). I have noticed more women driving. I'm not sure why that is. I drive the kids all the time so I am more than happy to let dh drive when we go out together or as a family. When we go on road trips dh does all the driving as well.

[L.Jane]

He does. I don't love to drive. Id rather not deal with finding my way places I don't know. Also, there is the exception, for example, on the occasion we go somewhere like my work where I am used to going alone and then I just drive because its my route.

ETA: road trips, we split the drive. I dont mind the highway, but I dont like city driving.

[Curegirl]

We both hate driving but he's much better at it than I am so I guess by default? I also tend to suffer from severe road rage

[Mrs. MD, Esq.]

DH drives unless I insist because I think he's too tired...I prefer not driving (but DH tells me I'm a great NAGivator...)

[BonBon]

We take turns, though DH would prefer me to drive since I'm a terrible backseat driver. In my defense, he sucks.

[ides]

I drive when we are in town cause dh is a horrible navigator and has an awful sense of direction. When we go on trips dh drives mostly because I hate long distance driving and feel like I'm falling asleep on straight boring interstate roads.

[GrayMatterWife]

DH drives. I hate to drive. And I hate to hear him criticize my driving. Because it is completely justified and I darned well know it.

[MrsK]

. . . I'm a great NAGivator...)

LOL This is my 3yo. To his credit, he actually knows landmarks and properly identifies right and left turns, even reminds me when the lights change. He's probably a better driver than I am too if only his directions didn't include the words "chase" and "crash" so much.

[GrayMatterWife]

Ugh. The worst for me is when my MOM is driving in my town (we don't live in the same place) and I am the front-seat passenger responsible for giving directions. My mother is genuinely and profoundly ambidextrous. It's not that she kinda prefers one hand over the other but can use both. She is the real deal: has no preference AND can do completely different activities with each hand simultaneously. She's actually incredibly creepy to watch.

But. like most profoundly ambidextrous people, she actually has a very hard time sometimes distinguishing between right and left. Her brain just does not work that way.

It is hell to give her directions.

"Take a left here." [She throws both her hands off the steering wheel, pointing in each direction, while yelling--and I kid you not: "WHICH LEFT?!?!?!?"

I have actually said the following words to her on numerous occasions: "No, no! Your OTHER left!!"

It is so bad that I generally give my turning directions WITH an accompanying hand gesture, to show her "left."

My kids do not understand it, and it makes my husband, who does BRAIN MAPPING for a living and has just an incredible sense of direction regardless of his axis, absolutely nuts.

[ladymoreta]

DH usually drives. Our exceptions are when we're on long trips and we split it up or when we're in unfamiliar cities. I am horrible at navigating. I seriously get us lost even with a GPS. So we've found that if I drive and DH tells me where to go, we get lost a whole lot less often.

[MsSassyBaskets]

Pretty equal. More often DH if we're just driving around town or going to dinner, split somewhat equally on road trips but more heavily weighted toward him because my eyes get really tired (eye appointment this month, I swear!), and lately when we've been driving to check out apartments every Saturday I do ALL the driving while he watches lectures on his laptop.

[WolfpackWife]

We actually split it pretty even. I was in a really bad car accident a couple of summers ago and since then I've developed some control issues in the car in that I feel like no one can pay better attention or be as careful as I can. It's sparked a few fights but I am getting better. Usually when we're going on a trip DH drives, but since the start of med school I've done more of that long distance driving so he can use the time to study if he needs to. Whenever were going out for the night or on a date he drives.