This is a must-read article: http://www…index.html
If one in six people can’t pass a driving tests, WHAT ARE THEY DOING ON THE ROAD?
Answer: driving SUVs.
Answer: driving cars and pickups
What are they doing on the road?
OK, I’ll start the list.
Talking on thei cell phone. Applying makeup. Shaving. Eating a burger fries and coke. Smoking. watching TV. Reading a newspaper…
A true shock treatment for the average US driver would be to fly non-stop to Frankfurt Germany, rent a car and hit the 6 lane E3 Autobahn at normal speed; 80mph in the slow lane, 100mph in the middle lane , and whatever you want in the fast lane.(125 mph is not unusual). Even with these driving condition, the fatality rate on German Interstates is only half the US rate! At a recent dinner party a doctor stated that “speed kills”. I happened to have the have the above statistics close by and convinced him that incompetence and stupidity kills far more people than speed. True, German cars are tightly sprung, have sensitive steering and good brakes. I can’t imagine driving a Crown Victoria at 120mph in the fast lane.
Even though half the questions on those tests are irrelevant to actual driving (the last written motorcycle test I remember taking was actually pretty funny), that statistic is scary. I would be curious to see how many people could pass a road test.
Agreed. The overwhelming majority of accidents happen because somebody wasn’t paying attention. My own feeling, although I have no data to reference to back me up, is that the second most common cause of accidents is people not leaving nearly enough room around themselves to have sufficient visability and time to react. When tailgating, you not only cannot stop in time but you also cannot see what the hey is going on around you.
The caveat being that it could be argued that speed kills when people go too fast for road conditions, something I see often here in NH.
Speed in and of itself does not kill.
No kidding about the questions not really telling you how well someone drives. The example given in the article was how many feet before a turn should you turn on your signal. I don’t know, but I probably turn my signal on farther away than required. I like to let people know what I’m about to do. It’s not like anyone enforces that rule anyway, I see people turning their signals on halfway through a turn all the time.
I also remember the last time I took a written driver’s test I missed a question on how far from an intersection must your car be when parking. It was multiple choice and none of the choices seemed far enough to me, but I chose the longest (something like 15 feet) and it turned out to be the shortest of the possible answers. Seems to me that question was penalizing people who gave safer answers.
Equating a written driving test to actual driving is only a beginning. If you don’t crash, get tickets, or cause others to crash, then that is good. Your irritation caused by someone else’s driving is not a crime committed by them.
The US is different from Europe. We have a much larger and less densely populated area and can not afford public transportation that goes everywhere like they do. In Europe, you can go anywhere via the train, then the bus and then a taxi, if needed.
Almost anyone can get a driver’s license here in the US and that is as it should be. If you are not sympathetic to this concept then one day you will be when things change for you. Meanwhile, enjoy the ride for as long as you can keep a driver’s license.
Yup, some of the motorcycle questions seemed to be written by someone who had never seen a motorcycle. The whole written test is pretty silly, a real driving test would be more useful.
It’s hard to pass a test when you can’t read and understand the questions…
You turn your signal on 100 feet before the turn.
You follow a vehicle 1 second for every ten MPH’s in speed. Unless road conditions are such where you should leave a greater distance between vehicles.
But I got one! What does the term, The Right-of-Way refer to?
Tester
I used to be a big fan of public transportation until the recent events in France. Their transit workers are on strike and they have brought millions of commuters and their country’s economy to its knees. At least owning a car means that striking workers can’t keep me from getting to work.
Is there supposed to be a link to the test in question somewhere within the linked article? If so, I don’t see it. Would someone please post the link.
The slow lane is likely to be much slower than that. Buses and trucks over 3.5 tons GVW are limited to 100 KPH (62 MPH).
By the way it’s written and hyphenated, my guess is that Right-of-Way means the road surface and/or the easement along that roadway. ???
Ah gee OK. Out of all the people on this board, I thought you would have got this one. Buy no, at has nothing to do with the road surface or easements.
This is subject that’s found in every driving manual. I’ll wait and see if anybody else knows what this refers to. And if nobody knows, I’ll let everyone in this on this basic rule later today.
Tester
I think it is when two vehicles stop at an unmarked intersection the car to your right has the Right-of-Way to procede first. I’m unsure if this rule may also apply at a marked (stopsign) intersection.
MG:
Here is a link to the National Driving Test. I scored 95%.
http://www.gmacinsurance.com/safedriving/test.asp
~Michael
You got it Skypilot!
The Right-of-Way refers to if two vehicles approach a 4 way stop at right angles to each other, and both vehicles stop exactly at the same time (as if people actually do stop). The vehicle on the right has has the Right-of-Way to proceed through the intersection first. Or, if two vehicle approach a 4 way stop coming from each direction, and both stop exactly at the same time, but one is turning left, the vehicle going straight has the Right-of-Way to proceed through the intersection first.
Tester