TheAA no longer prioritising lone women for recovery

[Imayhaveerred]

A woman tweeted this “ hi @TheAA_UK I am a lone woman whose car has broken down at night in the dark. Your call handler has told me you treat lone women and lone men as exactly the same priority in such circumstances because “that’s equality”

TheAA reply: “Hi Helen, you've been advised correctly. We don't prioritise based on gender, we do consider the location so as an example we would prioritise someone on a motorway over someone in a supermarket carpark”

twitter.com/theaa_uk/status/1483867262373220356?s=21

Surely lone women are always at higher risk than lone men? And that’s before the egregious use of gender when they mean sex…

I'm stunned by this, I mean I probably shouldn't be, but given that women can't even go out for a run in broad daylight anymore I really feel that lone women should be prioritised.
If I were still with the AA I'd be cancelling right now, but I haven't used them in decades.

Because all we little women do is a run out to the supermarket. Unlike our intrepid male counterparts circumnavigating the M25

Ffs! I’m so very very tired of the amount of stupid in this country

I've been a member for years, but I'll be jumping ship if this is their policy. Hopefully one of their social media bods has got this wrong.

@Fiftythreepercent

Because all we little women do is a run out to the supermarket. Unlike our intrepid male counterparts circumnavigating the M25

Bloody hell, I missed that gem of everyday sexism.

That's disgusting

Are they saying that a lone woman on the motorway would get the same priority as a man? And if 2 reports came in within minutes of each other and only one patrol to assign it them both to..what is their next step criteria? I think this is important as I agree motorway is a higher priority than supermarket car park, regardless of sex.

There is a little bit of sense in this, whenever I have had to call the RAC I have been in a 'safe' location - motorway services, retail park, residential street, etc. The most dangerous was in a full lay-by on an A road, dc2 was teeny and I remember crying down the phone saying "I have a baby, but we're safe' On all of those occasions I was safe, despite being alone with children, so I shouldn't have priority over say someone on the side of the motorway.

I'd hope though all being equal, that a lone woman would be prioritised over a lone man.

Isn't this an issue where it's actually fairly reasonable to go with gender over sex? Surely it's signifiers of gender that a predator would be using to decide whom to attack, so that might very well include trans women.

Of course women ought to be prioritised, though, no matter whether you're using gender or biological sex. Absurd to suggest that it's the same risk for men.

As a lone woman a retail park at night could be very intimidating, surely? I don’t think I’d feel very safe once the shops had closed.

@Innocenta

Isn't this an issue where it's actually fairly reasonable to go with gender over sex? Surely it's signifiers of gender that a predator would be using to decide whom to attack, so that might very well include trans women.

Of course women ought to be prioritised, though, no matter whether you're using gender or biological sex. Absurd to suggest that it's the same risk for men.

How many transwomen have been abducted and murdered in recent years in the UK? And how many women this year alone?

To be honest, men can generally tell I'm a woman though I don't dress in a feminine way. So no, I'm not sure if femininity should be how we determine whether someone is at risk of male violence.

Men are much more likely to be attacked than women though statistically. Perhaps they should have priority.

A location that would be safe for a man is not necessarily safe for a woman. Surely the question to the driver should be ‘are you safe?’ and prioritise on that basis. A lone woman in an isolated dark car park is absolutely less safe than a person (male or female) on a busy road.

Unfortunately I don't think any of the other recovery companies prioritise women either, based on my experience. I was with RescueMyCar and waited for over an hour with dd aged 1 in freezing January in a broken down car albeit a busy road. She was crying for most of that time. The call handler fed me some BS about a massive accident the night before on the other side of the road. But I has driven down that side an hour before and it was clear.
Would be interested to hear if any recovery companies do actually prioritise women or people with children.

@Alayalaya

A location that would be safe for a man is not necessarily safe for a woman. Surely the question to the driver should be ‘are you safe?’ and prioritise on that basis. A lone woman in an isolated dark car park is absolutely less safe than a person (male or female) on a busy road.

It means different things though. “Are you safe from the risk of being hit by another vehicle” would be the motorway meaning. “Are you personally safe from being attacked” is the risk for women.

A lone woman in an isolated dark car park is absolutely less safe than a person (male or female) on a busy road.

Someone broken down on the hard shoulder of the motorway should always have priority especially in the dark. It is an incredibly dangerous position to be in and there is a significant risk of death or injury. Also in a car park there is generally the option to stay in the car with the doors locked, not so on the hard shoulder.

@jessieminto

Are they saying that a lone woman on the motorway would get the same priority as a man? And if 2 reports came in within minutes of each other and only one patrol to assign it them both to..what is their next step criteria? I think this is important as I agree motorway is a higher priority than supermarket car park, regardless of sex.

Yes, I don’t think that a lone woman should always trump a lone man, because there are situations where a lone man is in more danger. A man who has broken down on a motorway on a rainy night is in more danger than a woman in a well-lit residential street in a safe area, with a nearby cafe where she can wait. Is anyone seriously arguing that the AA should go to the woman first?

All the outraged responses to the AA’s policy seem to have forgotten that a stranded motorist of either sex is far more likely to be killed/injured by another vehicle than to be wilfully attacked. Your life expectancy on a motorway hard shoulder is about 15 minutes. If it was your son on the hard shoulder, do you really want the AA to go to the woman in the café first?

What the AA should always be doing is risk-assessing each situation and giving full weight to the vulnerability of stranded women.

I am absolutely astonished by this.
Member here.
Agree why ‘gender’ ?

Your life expectancy on a motorway hard shoulder is about 15 minutes

Source please.