Stupid Drivers

“Survey: Northeast has dumbest drivers

Test shows 1 in 10 licensed U.S. drivers don't know basic rules. In the East, 20 percent fail quiz.
May 27, 2005; Posted: 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - When faced with a written test, similar to ones given to beginning drivers applying for licenses, one in ten drivers couldn't get a passing score, according to a study commissioned by GMAC Insurance.

The GMAC Insurance National Driver's Test found that nearly 20 million Americans, or about 1 in 10 drivers, would fail a state driver's test if they had to take one today. GMAC Insurance is part of General Motors' finance subsidiary, GMAC.

More than 5,000 licensed drivers between the ages of 16 and 65 were administered a 20-question written test designed to measure basic knowledge about traffic laws and safety. They were also surveyed about their general driving habits.

Drivers in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states did worst. Twenty percent of test-takers failed there.

The state of Rhode Island leads the nation in driver cluelessness, according to the survey. The average test score there was 77, just eight points above a failing grade.

Those in neighboring Massachusetts were second worst and New Jersey, third worst.

Northwestern states had the most knowledgeable drivers. In those states, just one to three percent failed the test. Oregon and Washington drivers knew the rules of the road best. In Oregon, the average test score was 89.

According to the study, many drivers find basic practices, such as merging and interpreting road signs, difficult.

For instance, one out of five drivers doesn't know that a pedestrian in a crosswalk has the right of way, and one out of three drivers speeds up to make a yellow light, even when pedestrians are present, the study said.

Drivers not only lack basic road knowledge, but exhibit dangerous driving behavior as well.

"As a nation of drivers, we've made little progress in the past 10 years to curb some of the most dangerous driving behaviors, including drinking and driving and speeding," said Susan Ferguson, senior vice president of research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

One out of 10 drivers regularly exceeds the speed limit by 11 or more miles per hour, with drivers aged between 18 and 24 years showing the greatest propensity for speeding, the study said.

Speeding increases both the likelihood of an accident and the severity of the crash, the company added, citing research from IIHS.

Younger drivers are the most likely to fail a written driving test while those between the ages of 50 and 64 are the most likely to pass.


http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/05/26/drivers_study/index.html



New York (CNN/Money) - These are the average scores on a 20-question driver's test administered to more than 5,000 licensed drivers in a survey commissioned by the GMAC Insurance.

Nation -- 82.7

1. Oregon -- 89.4

2. Washington -- 88.4

3. Iowa -- 87.7

4. Idaho -- 87.5

5. Wyoming -- 87.4

6. Vermont -- 86.6

7. Nebraska -- 86.5

8. Wisconsin -- 86.3

9. Montana -- 86.2

10. West Virginia -- 86.2

11. Minnesota -- 86.1

12. North Dakota -- 85.6

13. North Carolina -- 85.2

14. Indiana -- 85.1

15. Alabama -- 84.7

15. Virginia -- 84.7

15. Nevada -- 84.7

16 Missouri -- 84.7

19. Ohio -- 84.3

19. South Dakota -- 84.3

21. Colorado -- 84.2

22. Kansas -- 84.0

23. Michigan -- 83.8

24. New Hampshire -- 83.7

25. Tennessee -- 83.4

26. Maine -- 83.2

27. Arkansas -- 83.1

27. South Carolina -- 83.1

29. Georgia -- 82.9

29. New Mexico -- 82.9

31. Oklahoma -- 82.8

32. Texas -- 82.7

33. Utah -- 82.6

33. Arizona -- 82.6

35. Mississippi -- 82.5

35. Delaware -- 82.5

35. Kentucky -- 82.5

38. Pennsylvania -- 82.1

39. Louisiana -- 81.7

40. Illinois -- 81.6

41. Florida -- 81.1

42. Connecticut -- 80.9

43. California -- 80.4

44. Maryland -- 79.8

44. Washington, D.C, -- 79.8

44. New York -- 79.8

47. New Jersey -- 78.3

48. Massachusetts -- 77.2

49. Rhode Island -- 77.0”

“Oregon drivers are no. 1? I don't think so!
They can't even be trusted enough for the state to allow them to pump their own gas!”

“This explains plenty.”

“New Jersey must be onto something then, they can't pump gas either. ;-)”

“No - we can do that. Its just a jobs program for down and out folks from Mississippi.”

“I'm sorry, but New Jersey driver's are the worse! Those scores must be slightly off.”

“Don't know much about NJ drivers. I can tell you that Illinois drivers are pretty bad!

It is hard to drive while you are on the phone, reading the paper, shaving, smoking crack, putting make-up on, eating and getting a blow job all at the same time.”

“wow, i thought the DC drivers would get a negative score! LOL. actually i don't think it's that they don't know the rules, they just hate life and want to kill everyone else, esp. pedestrians.”

“I followed a woman this morning who kept looking in the rearview mirror and primping her hair. When she did, her car veered to the right. I said, forget it lady; the undertaker will take care of it for you!”

“No wonder she veered, Geo; she was probably trying to ditch you!”

“Nobody knows the drivers I've seen,
Nobody knows but me_ee,
...”

“I want to have a National Tailgaters Awareness Day...once a month require everyone to stand on their brakes at least once, to teach the stupid SOB behind you a physics lesson.

Why does everyone change lanes in the middle of a left turn, end up in your lane and proceed to get pissed at you for being there?

The sign on freeway on ramps says MERGE with traffic, not pull over when ever you feel like it, at 30 mph.

Why does everyone drive around with their parking lights on and their headlamps off?

Are they trying to save electricity?


Sorry, had to get that off my chest.”

“I agree with Lyra. Maryland/DC drivers are the worst. The new thing is for them to get onto the shoulder early for an off ramp. This allows the SOB's to zip up to the very front and cut in. causing the line to back up to where they cut over. Morons!”

“When I get old and crotchety, I plan on getting an old beater, installing a special bumper on the rear, and drive around my town waiting for people to tailgate me.

Actually, I've done the slamming on your brakes thing. Made one girl so mad she actually got out of her car at the light to give me a piece of her mind. I just ignored her and laughed my ass off.”

“Road Ragers are the worst drivers.

I see a lot of folks taking exits on traffic circles from the inside lanes. (a particular peeve of a local county law enforc. supr.)

Fog lights? (turn em off in traffic) Dazzleing lights & excessive wattage. Common courtesy. Yea I know they're factory installed. (just like your high beams)

Tailgating? Like that's gonna get you there faster. I actually drive slower if tailgated. You hit somebody in the rear of their car & it's 100% YOUR fault.

Traffic obstacle. When you enter the opposite direction of traffic's lane (unless directed)any accident is YOUR fault.

Stop signs? Who stops (fully) at stop signs? Who stops at right-on-red (light)? You stopped when the guy in front of you stopped,right? (come 'on)

Who complains when they get picked out of a group of cars basically doing the same thing? Well, it's like fishing....you're never gonna catch all the fish in the pond.

Seat belts (especially for the kids jumping around in the back seat) is a good thing.”

“If you guys think that people can't drive in the states, Just come on over to Africa.

THERE ARE NO RULES”

“I am planning on making bumper stickers that say " the closer you drive, the slower I go"

Use your turn indicator, yield to pedestrians, stop at the sign , not the intersection, look for pedestrians when you blast through lights etc...yellow doesnt mean accelerate. Slow the #^#$ down, demostrate some courtesy.”

“Yellow in chicago land means go as fast as you can...try to slow down and you'll likely cause an accident...get on the main roads and its very frightening, you must drive at least 80 mph at all times....”

“It is Memorial Day Weekend in GSMNP.

Stupid drivers abound here.”

“Working the weekend through Sunday but Monday I'll probably be out in the bateaux with all the nuts on the river.”

“You've obviously never driven in New Jersey...

We've got much bigger things to worry about:

- Bumper to bumper traffic at 90 mph
- Tollbooth congestion on the Garden State Parkway
- The fact that half the intersections in the state don't let you turn left (but people try to anyway)
- Two words: traffic circles
- Drivers turning left from the right lane and vice versa.
- People turning the wrong way into a freeway offramp (into the above-mentioned 90-mph bumper-to-bumper traffic)
- 90 mph traffic on older freeways with no acceleration lane on the onramps.
- Store/Mall traffic on semi-freeways (think of a boulevard with stores and malls, but with interchanges and overpasses like a freeway).
- The idea that you should stop for red lights is merely a suggestion (much like the speed limit)

Driving outside of NJ is cake... (well, except for New York City, Long Island, and parts of New England, but that's another story altogether)
last edited: 5/28/05 7:36:21 PM”

“It's possible that language fluency was a factor in those results, but it is true that Boston drivers are horrible. When I drive out of the Boston area, I have to change my mind set because people are much more polite even 50 miles away.

I always stop for pedestrians in cross-walks, but around Boston I'm not sure I'm doing them any favors at all. There have been times when I stopped for a pedestrian and the car behind me honked and then veered around me.”

“Those scores don't mean a thing. I've driven in at least half of the states in this nation, and it's not just driving skills or the ability to ace a test that make you a good driver. More important are patience, common sense, and a considerate attitude on the road. Although Idaho scored way higher than Illinois and California, I'd much rather drive in either of the latter two than Idaho. I've never shared the highways with a more brain dead bunch of drivers anywhere. Illinois drivers proved to me to be very considerate, and California drivers are the same for the most part. All I have to do in Idaho or Utah is flip on my turn signal to indicate that I want to change lanes, and some yokel is bound to speed up and fill in the spot I intended to take with my 75 foot long rig. Try that in California, and they will move to let you change lanes (one time only, you snooze you lose). I wish the people of my home state would learn a little common courtesy on the road.”

“Its probebly a good thing I have to work here at the hospital this holiday weekend...likely id end up in the hospital anyway doing something drunk and stupid.”

“In Canada, Quebec drivers are the most rude and aggresive. But in Toronto, more drivers blow thru a red light, because they have more traffic jams....so the drivers are very impatient. Drivers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba drive the fastest, because of all their long stretchs of hi-ways.”

“Hobbit, I hear ya. One time I blew a tire on the Pa. Turnpike during morning rush hour in the busiest stretch of the pike in the east. I was in the left-most of three lanes, and the other two lanes opened up a hole to let me get over. I thought I was gonna be toast, but they actually reacted to the emergency and opened a hole.”

“A year later, still the same results. Washington still one of the best.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/05/26/dumb_driver_states/index.html
last edited: 5/26/06 1:24:46 PM”

“Woo hoo I got an 85! Wish I knew which questions I missed. Some of them thar questions are worded a bit weird.”

“LOL

http://www.break.com/index/trying_to_outrun_roadblock.html”