How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

hmm, safe but boring I guess

You scored a 84% (A)! Your driving level is: very safe

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

Got a 74, also a "B". Probably lost points for minor speeding and tailgating.

If you're going 25 in a 40, you can bet I'll be riding your ass. Same thing if it takes you a mile after a red light to get up to speed. Drive like the 99% of normal humans on the road and I'm fine. But that 1% is completely oblivious to the fact that they are the cause of many traffic problems.

Thankfully that 1% has one less driver. My mother had a minor stroke about two years ago and has really been itching to drive as her health has improved. Her license expired and amazingly the DMV wouldn't renew it without a letter from her doctor. Even more amazing, her doctor said no.

One less person zooming down the road at 12 miles per hour with thirty cars trapped behind her unable to pass.

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

You scored a 68% (B)! Your driving level is: a little risk

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

I got 74. The problem is that I have no choice but to go over the speed limit. I'm from the province of Quebec! If you don't speed up, you'll get hit from behind!

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

I got 71%.

I tried to get 0%, but the worst I could make it give me was 5%.

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

You scored a 78% (B)! Your driving level is: a little risk

Not bad considering where I live and drive. Apparently you only lose 5 points for drunk driving . Should be more than that. I'm ashamed to admit that I did it once about 18 years ago. But it still counts against me.

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

That's no joke. My brother-in-law and my sister drove through Quebec on their way to the Atlantic provinces. On the way back, they made sure to drive through the States to avoid driving in Quebec. They were freaked out by how bad people in Quebec drove.

I got 79 (B) on this test, but who knows.....I might have cheated a bit.

Edit: Actually, I shouldn't say bad. I should say aggressively.

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

Yeah, I just do the speed limit and hang out in the right lane everywhere I go.

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

You scored a 62% (B)! Your driving level is: a little risk

I seem to have beaten all of you so far, its quite the dubious honor really.

Here's my credo: Everyone in front of me is an idiot and everyone behind me is an as*hole (I stole that from Carlin but it is true!).

I drive an SUV now but I used to drive a Mustang LX with the big V-8 so I tend to drive a little aggressively anyway but it seems to me like people in front of me impede my forward momentum every chance they get; braking going uphill, not keeping a constant speed,almost stopping to make a turn, and generally not getting the hell out of my way.

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

I scored a "B", but I don't think much of the test, since it tries to measure how safe a driver you are (present tense) based on past behavior, but with no controls for when certain things happened. I've been driving for a long time. I answered "yes" to the drunk driving, major accident and minor accident questions. But all of those related to incidents that happened over 20 years ago. Each of these questions should have asked "How long ago did this last happen" and given you a range of years, and assigned points on a descending scale with very high numbers for recent incidents (certainly for drunk driving) and zero beyond some cut-off point.

Also I think the music and phone questions should have made concessions to modern technology. I can cycle through my radio pre-sets and CD player, as well as adjust the volume on my stereo by touch, using buttons on my steering wheel, without ever taking my eyes off the road. And while I have seen studies suggesting that having in-depth conversations on the phone can be distracting regardless of what kind of phone you have, I don't think the way I use a cell phone in the car should cost me points on a safe driving test. (Headset, voice activated and most of my calls consists of things like "Boss, I'm stuck in traffic and might be a few minutes late", and "Bob, I need the SPL meter you borrowed back. Are you going to be home in about 20 minutes." I think the longest calls I usually make are to the cops reporting road hazards and accidents.)

Adjusting my answers to current reality and technology (i.e., "lying") I scored an "A" (86%) - which is probably a better reflection of how much of a risk I present to other drivers than any number that counts driving infractions from 30 years ago, assumes I have to look down at the radio to crank up the volume on a good song or that I'm holding a phone to my ear while while arguing with a talk radio host about the relative merits of the Giants and the Titans while doing 75 on the interstate.

Regards,

Joe

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

You scored a 78% (B)! Your driving level is: a little risk.

It would be interesting to know if anyone actually claimed they were anything other than a great driver.

I'd love to help them with the questions:

Do you tailgate another car NOT in the passing lane?

Do you keep your headlights on most of the time, particularly in fog and at dusk and dawn?

When approaching a red light do you have enough brains to help other drivers making left hand turns and trying to emerge from side roads?

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

Going back only 10 years, adjusting for technology and lying, I also scord an 86!

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

I pulled off an 88.

A quick story:

Tuesday evening I was on my way home from work on a busy divided four lane during rush hour and the inside lane was at a dead stop with drivers trying to turn left for about three miles. I was 2nd in line in the outside lane behind a guy weaving and running 25-30mph in a 50. After following this guy for over three miles before I could merge to the inside lane to pass him, I saw he was the only one in the car and was watching tv!!! What an ass! If you're that bored while driving, stay home...

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

Could be a probem. But then you're Canadien....

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

You scored a 59% (C)! Your driving level is: average risk

Drives me crazy! I have a friend that lives in Plattsburgh, NY and I usually swing up to Montreal when I visit. I'm deathly afraid of getting pulled over in a foreign country, so here I am going along the highway at the posted 100kmh speed limit, and cars are blowing by me left and right. And then Montreal itself is even crazier.

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

Joe, in the past year since I've dropped the train commute in favor of a 1 hr/35 mile ride each way, I've been rear-ended 3 times by people on cell phones. All three times I was on the same road, all three times I was fully stopped at a red light and 2 of the three who hit me had drawn my attention prior to being hit as I could tell they were not paying attention and clearly yacking on their cell phones. Two of the three were hands-free, two of the three instantly admitted they were on their cell phone and one later conceded the point to the cop who arrived.

All three were little more than minor fender benders causing me no car damage and no injury. I felt this way before, but this past year has cemented for me that there is absolutely no question driving while talking on a cell phone is an extremely dangerous thing for some people to do.

There very well may be lots of people like you around who can easily manage to talk on a cell and drive at the same time, but there are a lot of people who completely zone out when they're on the cell phone...whether they're driving or not.

As an aside, I saw a woman about two years ago who was talking on a cell phone while walking along Broadway in NYC. She never broke stride and walked right into 42nd street against the red and was hit by a cab that she never even saw coming. I saw the entire thing as i was waiting to cross the street. She saw nothing, she heard nothing.

Some people really cannot walk and talk at the same time, let alone drive and talk.

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

Created by The Car Connection

a 74 for me.

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

I agree almost completely, which is why I qualified my comments. But the kind of people you're describing are exactly the kind that will also be distracted by other things - like car stereos, food, good-looking pedestrians and traffic accidents. (The safe driving test really should have had a question about eating while driving, because I"ve seen people do some serioulsy stupid stuff juggling cups and burgers and french fries while behind the wheel.)

It isn't "driving with a cell phone" that is dangerous - it is "driving while distracted." The problem is it is hard to write a law to make being distracted a crime (not to mention proving it) so we end up with idiotic total bans on cell phones. I've driven past drivers doing their morning grooming (men shaving, women applying makeup) at road speed and using their rear-view mirrors for the purpose. I once followed a real estate agent for nearly three miles while she sorted files in an enormous plastic organizer belted into passenger seat, and a salesman for several eight or nine blocks while he made read and made notes on the contents of a manilla folder that was propped up in front of him on his steeing wheel. None of these people were on a cell phone. All of them were a real danger to themselves and others.


Some people can't walk and chew gum at the same time. The fact is some people really can't drive period, and shouldn't get behind the wheel simply because they are idiots. (I work with a woman who is so utterly clueless that I can't believe she manages to dress herself and find the office in the morning, much less drive the distance between the two. She has had at least two accidents, that I know of, while driving an official vehicle while still in our own parking lot.)

Regards,

Joe

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

You scored a 61% (B)! Your driving level is: a little risk

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

You scored a 81% (A)! Your driving level is: very safe

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

You scored a 81% (A)! Your driving level is: very safe

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

I found out how terrible we really were after visiting NYC a few years ago. The drivers in that town are so polite and accommodating to pedestrians, even a cab driver waited for me to cross the intersection on foot before making his turn!

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

Half of Montreal's intersections lack any traffic controls whatsoever. The first time I came to a four-way intersection with no lights, stop signs or even yields I didn't know what to do. Apparently, the most aggressive driver gets to go first. Because my Québécois French is très limité, it wasn't until I was leaving the island the first time that I deciphered a sign prohibiting right turns on red. Mind you, I'd been making rights on red the entire day, sometimes right in front of cop cars, without being pulled over. Just a crazy, crazy driving experience.

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

That thought took me back over 4 decades to my time in Okinawa.
The taxi drivers there would routinely pass on blind mountain curves.
We young Marines though it was great preparation for our coming landing in Nam in the fall of 1966.
Most 18 year olds think they're immortal, the Corps counts on it.

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

There's a TV show on Discovery Canada called Canada's Worst Driver, featuring the worst drivers you've ever seen in your life! The show is in its fourth season, and the drivers they've found (all nominated by spouses, family members and close friends) are the worst drivers they've ever had in the history of the show! One elderly woman, Donna, admitted to DRINKING AND DRIVING ON A REGULAR BASIS! She even races through stop signs because they give her "a little buzz!"

Canadians can watch every episode online by visiting DiscoveryChannel.ca - CWD4 Showsite .

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

I scored a 78. I do a lot of city driving and I have gotten hit a lot by other people and it's always their fault (they have all admitted it readily). Some have been rear-endings, some have been lane changes where they don't look, once it was ice. 4 out of the 5 times I have been hit it has been a woman driver and a minor fender bender. But the worst hit I took was the 1 male driver.

Re: How Dangerous of a Driver Are You?

85, very safe. Gotta be something wrong with the test!