It'll soon be illegal in Europe to differentiate insurance risk by gender...

This has to be one of the most ridiculous rulings I've ever heard. Statistically, male drivers are more dangerous, so why should women now subsidise this behaviour? It's pure ideological lawmaking, designed to show how egalitarian the EU is by in fact foisting a law upon its citizens which is completely disconnected from reality.

In their attempt to achieve "equality" and "fairness," they've actually achieved neither - the two concepts are mutually exclusive in the insurance world. The whole concept of insurance, like life itself is predicated on inequality in the boolean algebraic sense of the word. It just proves how meddlesome the Eurocracy is becoming.

Besides, where does it end ? It's likely now that male pension annuities, up till now cheaper than female ones, due to the earlier death of the average male will increase too. That's not "fair," is it?

How do you figure? It's unlikely insurance companies will reduce their premiums for male drivers, they'll just increase the premiums for female customers.

"It is a statistical reality that young men have more accidents than women so it should be reflected in their premiums." I am so tired of seeing that line of comment thrown around. It is incorrect.

Statistically, a woman is more likely to have an accident than a man while driving. The difference lies in the severity of the accident. A woman is more likely to have a minor bump or scrape [many of which will go unclaimed via insurance as it will be cheaper than the excess], while a man will end up with far more damage which requires going through insurance.

Also, I've seen report of studies that show that while younger women are safer drivers than younger men [taking less risks]; older men are safer drivers than older women. Yet the premiums have never reflected this.

Anecdotally, I've seen more women drive badly than men too - I see vastly more women on the phone while driving than men. Then there's also the school runs, which are more likely to be women driven, where the driver will be potentially getting distracted by unruly children in the back. Again anecdotally, I've had to make a lot of dangerous manoeuvres to avoid terrible driving from women, who have then driven on oblivious to the near damage they've caused. [My dad's saying has been "women cause accidents; men have them"]

Insurance companies are loving this, probably rubbing their hands together in glee. Especially in the UK as insurance is a legal requirement and this year has already increased by nearly 30% for no reason at all.

> The ruling will take effect on 21 December 2012.

Great; we'll get to enjoy that for one day ;)