On-line driver's test
36 Million Licensed Americans Unfit To Drive According To GMAC Insurance Study
Failure Rates Double in 3rd Annual GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test
GMAC insurance is offering an on-line driver's test. Notice that according to the chart, one in four drivers would be C students, and that only 2 states scores were in the green. However, the spread reveals something even more interesting since the highest was only 81.9% and the lowest was at 70%. That seems to indicate that ALL the drivers missed at least 18% of the answers. That's pathetic.
There are no questions regarding cyclists. One deals with pedestrians, and another with school buses - which is almost a pedestrian-related question. This could be a reflection of the statistics regarding cyclist and pedestrian deaths, and since fatalities among cyclists are relatively low, they're not going to be included in a 20 question quiz.
I scored 95% - not that I'm bragging about it - because the one question I missed had to do with a practice that is legal, but it something I greatly dislike doing. I won't tell you what it is here in the main text, but I'll include it in comments so it won't be a spoiler.
From the press release:
ST. LOUIS, MO. (May 24, 2007) – Results from the 2007 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test indicate that one in six drivers on the road - roughly 36 million licensed Americans - would not pass their written DMV exam if taken today. The third annual survey by GMAC Insurance gauges driver knowledge of the rules of the road by testing licensed Americans on actual questions from state DMV license exams.
(Link to full text)
posted by Ed W at 11:39 AM
5 Comments:
I missed the question regarding passing on the right. While it's legal to pass on the right on an expressway or if a vehicle is making a left turn in a dedicated lane, I really don't like passing on the right. I'm OK with a dedicated left turn lane, but passing on the right on an expressway bothers me. I've had too many drivers simply change lanes without looking.
And as a cyclist, while I know it's legal to pass stopped traffic on the right, I still hesitate to do so in most situations. It's an excellent way to get doored. Some motorists will move as far to the right as possible to deliberately prevent a cyclist from passing. On a wide arterial, that's not a problem since I won't pass there anyway. But they do it on a rural roadway when traffic stacks up for a quarter of a mile or more at a stop sign, just being shits I suppose. That's one situation where I will not hesitate to pass on the right.
Ok, just for fun I took the test (I'm from Australia). I got 75% which puts me in the orange states. In fairness to myself though, the questions I got wrong were pretty specific to the US.
#3 (Actually we could probably get that here in Australia too)
#4 (Our lights don't flash unless they're malfunctioning I think)
#6 We have to slow to 40kph when our school buses are flashing their amber lights so I just took my best guess.
#8 I thought all of the above was good but changed my mind at the last minute. Over here you're supposed to keep left unless overtaking (so I guess that would be keep right for you guys).
#10 Our signs have writing on them generally :-)
You said, "That seems to indicate that ALL the drivers missed at least 18% of the answers."
No, it doesn't, it indicates that the highest average score for a state was about 82%. This means that, on average, those drivers missed 18%. Some missed more and some missed less. I'll bet each state has some who get 100%. But the average is, in all cases, significantly less.
Lemmiwinks, we're supposed to stay in the slow lane here in the US also unless overtaking, but there are plenty of "lane boulders" who drive slower than other traffic in the fast or passing lane.
I got 95% -- I guessed on question #16 (safe following distance is 2 seconds) and got it wrong. Most of the questions seemed like gimmes to me.
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