Friday, November 16, 2007

Bad Drivers in America

According to a recent CNN article, 36 million American drivers would flunk a driver's test. Idaho had the highest number of knowledgeable drivers, and New York was at the bottom of the barrel (big surprise)... along with Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.

You can take a driver's test and see how well you would do!:

http://www.gmacinsurance.com/safedriving/

Sadly, I scored right about average at 75%...

However, I am not putting too much stock on the national statistics, because strangely enough, the most populous areas in America scored the lowest. I have to believe the numbers are slightly skewed, because the urban areas, home to Chicago, Pittsburgh, NYC, Boston, the northern Jersey area, etc. scored low, while the least densely populated states in America (Idaho, Alaska, South Dakota) scored relatively high. The numbers probably had more to do with the statistic sampling in proportion to the overall population, rather than actual driving ability. Still, I still think the numbers are on target for drivers in America.

On the road, these are common blunders I see:

Failure to signal before making a turn
Failure to merge properly into traffic on the freeway
Failure to pull to the side of the road when an emergency vehicle is attempting to pass
Road Rage: Unnecessarily honking, tailgating, flashing high beams

Any others?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

woohoo! 90%.
-My issue is when people don't follow right of way rules. I think most people don't know them. A lot of malls have weird entrances that have stops for those exiting, but not entering, and everyone gets really confused! Fun times!
Aus2008!

Anonymous said...

100% Whoo hooo!!!

Melissa said...

wow I must have been the driver who skewed the national average...

sorry guys!

sooo.. does this mean we are going to australia next year!?

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking May, right after I finish up with school FOREVER.