It has cost her more than pounds 9,000 in legal fees to beat the allegations, which were finally dropped after eight months. But the incident could remain on the social services' file on her daughters, aged one and four, until they turn 18.In both these cases, the women drivers had been accompanied by small children; Dr Bevan was with her four-year-old daughter. While some women motorists may be earning enough to indulge themselves in what have traditionally been rich men's playthings, it is apparently a statement too far for them to demonstrate that they are bringing up children as well.For some men, the only time a woman should be seen with a nice car is when she is sprawled across the bonnet at a motor show, or on the cover of a car magazine Or in the front passenger seat of his own wagon. Yet the chauvinist attitudes are based on a genuine belief that women drivers are less competent than men.Is there any justification for this view? Earlier this month, researchers at Reading University reported on deep-rooted differences in the psychology of the sexes which make women drivers more dangerous when taking right turns at road junctions. The research showed that women took longer to learn how to judge gaps in the traffic and were prepared to take more risks at junctions when the gaps between oncoming vehicles were dangerously small.Then last week, evidence was presented to the US congress that women drivers were the new scourge of the highway. They were said to let their attention wander while at the wheel and change lanes without signalling, and were becoming increasingly aggressive and reckless.

The evidence was so damning that the US insurance industry, which has traditionally been kinder to women drivers than to men, is switching to equal opportunities in insurance policies.Here, the Scottish Office produced figures showing a sharp rise in the number of accidents involving women motorists. They were interpreted as evidence that the road-rage phenomenon had crossed the gender divide. The traditional "bloody women drivers!" outcry of the chauvinist motorist seemed strangely more appropriate, with women apparently prepared to use violence to settle roadside disputes.According to Neil Greig of the AA: "Anecdotal evidence shows women see men cutting in at roadworks and gaining an advantage, so they try to follow suit. They are also more likely to suffer from road rage now than a decade ago because women are travelling further and faster, due to commitments and deadlines at work."There are simpler explanations: the number of women with driving licences has increased from 9.6 million a decade ago to 16.3 million now.Statistics kept by insurers show that female motorists have a prang, on average, every 52 months. By comparison, men crash every 48 months.Why, then, are there male drivers and officers in the predominantly male bastion of the police service who continue to think that the woman in the posh car is incompetent, dangerous and a bad mother?It is nothing more than the same old-fashioned prejudice which means that a black man in an expensive car is more likely to be stopped by police than a white man in an identical vehicle.The type of person who judges a person's worth by their car keys often cannot accept that a driver of a race or gender which they consider to be inferior to their own could be abiding by the law. But these men are not everywhere; the jury which last week threw out the charges against Dr Bevan was two-thirds male..

I've yet to meet a cub reporter who picks up pounds 200,000 for grinding out a piece while the ink on his press card is still wet. But then Fergie, Duchess of York, probably hasn't got round to joining the National Union of Journalists. Anyway with the barrow-load of dosh Paris Match handed over for her trenchant article on the fashion designer John Galliano, it's unlikely that she sees the need to become part of the union. There are around 8,000 of us freelance journalists beavering away at the trade and the number of newspapers is ever-shrinking. Clearly the trick today is to get modern, take a leaf out of Fergie's chintzy manual, and go for a biggie. Which reminds me of an encounter with the off-the-wall Mr Galliano some years ago.