Women drivers have emerged winners in the battle of the sexes when it comes to road discipline, as nine out of every 10 motorists who had their licence suspended by a court were men.

Official figures tabled in Parliament show that 2,487 drivers aged between 18 and over 60, were slapped with such a court sanction. The data was gathered over an eight-year period between 2008 and this year.

Data from the transport watchdog show that at the end of last month, there were three male drivers for every two females. In absolute figures, the respective numbers were 146,831 men and 99,438 women.

However, when it came to bad discipline on the road, the ratio was much more skewed in favour of men.

It transpires that men who lost their licence because of insubordination, outnumbered women by nine times as much amounting to 93 per cent of the total, or 2,316 cases. In contrast, over this period there were just 171 women who suffered a similar fate.

Replying in Parliament, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela told government backbencher Silvio Schembri that the period of suspension was as little as a week and up to more than two years.

A yearly analysis of this data shows that in spite of the steady increase in the number of cars on the roads, court sentences banning motorists from driving have been in decline since 2011.

So far this year 98 motorists have had their licence withdrawn, and if this trend is maintained 2015 could be headed for an eight-year low.

Up to a few years ago, a local insurance company used to market itself as a cheaper option for female drivers, offering preferential rates to the more well-behaved women. This practice, however, came to an end in 2012 following a European Court of Justice ruling, which deemed this measure discriminatory.