There are apparently a lot of Garden State residents who'd feel safer getting in the passenger seat of a self-driving car than in a vehicle driven by their spouse.

driving a car (JaysonPhotography, ThinkStock)
JaysonPhotography, ThinkStock
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In a survey from car and home insurance company Plymouth Rock, 1,000 New Jersey motorists (500 males, 500 females) were asked who's the safer driver — men, women, or a self-driving car?

By a slim margin, females came out on top with 40.2 percent of the vote, versus 37.7 percent in favor of men.

But — and this may be the most surprising result — 22 percent of respondents went non-human with their response and said a self-driving car is the safest bet.

"Clearly there's a segment of drivers in New Jersey that's ready for self-driving cars, or at least accepting of that concept," Michael Buck, Plymouth Rock's content marketing manager, told New Jersey 101.5.

By a more than 2-to-1 margin, men were more likely to choose self-driving cars as the safest choice. In every age group – Millennials, Generation X-ers and Baby Boomers — men chose driverless vehicles over a female driver.

Overall, the older the respondent, the less trust they put into the advanced technology.

Among the 500 women surveyed, 68.2 percent said their own gender is the safest behind the wheel. Nearly 17 percent said men are the best, and 15.2 percent chose self-driving cars.

Among the men, driverless cars received 29 percent of the vote. A little over 12 percent chose women, and nearly 59 percent said men are safest.

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Contact reporter Dino Flammia at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com.

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