A man’s ego is not something to be tampered with. As head of the pack, its his decision to set the course when traveling and any interference will make him anxious and irritable. I bet you’ve all been at least once in a car with a man that simply won’t ask for directions, because he “knows the way” and has “a very good orientation sense”, because he was a boyscout ages ago. And it almost never works.

Now, we have proof: a British insurance firm called Sheilas’ Wheels (oh, dear God!), conducted a study and found out that the average male motorist in Britain travels some 276 extra miles per year simply because he’s stubborn and won’t ask for directions. The cost? About £2,000 ($3,100), time and wrecked nerves for the wife an kids. It seems that English men have quite an ego, because 25% of them would rather wander into the unknown for up to a half hour before stopping and asking for help and 10% would never ask at all. And here’s the best part of the study: 41% of men admitted to having told their passengers that they knew where they were going… although they had no idea.

I can’t say I envy British wives at this point, but this study is great fun!

Via Autoblog. Photo source.