A study done by GMAC Insurance reveals that almost one out of every five American drivers is unfit. This means that for every five vehicles on the road, there is one that is being driven by a person that has little understanding about the rules of the road, or how to drive safely. This may, or may not, surprise you, depending on exactly what you have encountered while driving down the road.
How many times have you had to deal with a really bad driver? I believe that everyone has had the unfortunate and frustrating experience of having to deal with a driver who really shouldn’t be allowed to drive without supervision.
These are the drivers who truly make you fear for your life, as you watch what sure seems like an accident that is about to happen, and involve your vehicle. These are also the drivers who inspire some of us to make rude gestures at them, followed up by curses of one form or another. Or, even worse, these are the drivers who do something completely dangerous, and then choose to make rude gestures at the other drivers, whom they nearly collided with.
GMAC Insurance is one of the largest companies that sells automobile insurance. Every year, they do a survey called the National Driver’s Test which has become the benchmark that defines how safe and knowledgable, (or unsafe and ignorant), American drivers really are. This year’s survey is the seventh one that the insurance company has done.
The 2011 GMAC National Driver’s Test finds that one out of every five drivers is unable to meet the basic requirements that a driver must meet in order to get a driver’s license. This comes to about 36.9 million American drivers, (or about 18% of drivers), who would not be able to pass the written driver’s test for their state, if asked to take it today.
The survey included drivers from all 50 states, and the District of Columbia, and it polled a total of 5,130 drivers. The test involved twenty questions, with multiple choices of answers. The questions were taken from actual state Department of Motor Vehicle exams. In other words, the questions on the GMAC test were ones that people really would have to answer correctly in order to qualify for a driver’s license.
GMAC put together some “highlights” of the survey. In 2010, the average score of all of the drivers who took the test was 76.2%. This year, people did slightly better, with an average score of 77.9%. This means that there has been some improvement, but there is still much more needed.
This year, the states of New York and Washington have been declared the states with the worst drivers. One out of three drives in these states, (or 34% of drivers), failed the test. Wyoming did the best out of all the states, with only 1 out of 20 drivers, (or 4.5%), failing the test.
Drivers who were between the ages of 60 and 65, the oldest group that took the GMAC test, scored an average of 80.3% on the test. This means that the older drivers are the most knowledgable about the rules of the road, and how to drive safely.
Image by Dave Sliozis on Flickr