We're not the worst?

have to admit that i got one wrong... number 8. i did not know that it was legal to pass on the right on a two lane highway. always thought that slow vehicles are supposed to keep to the right so faster ones could pass on the left. seems dangerous to me.

Laws vary from state to state, of course. But most contain an exception for passing on the right "in "anes of continuous traffic."

-- Larry

I imagine I'm not the only one to notice the tendency for low density states to rank near the top and high density states near the bottom. You don't suppose this is because it's harder to hit something when there's nothing around to hit, do you? And therefore the results have little, if anything, to do with the quality of drivers.

Possibly. But it may also correlate with the faster pace of life in urban areas, and the impatience, rudeness, and selfishness it engenders.

If there's a listing for road rage, it would be no surprise if it were substantially identical to this one.

No, because the rankings are based entirely on the test results, not any accident or citation figures.

I suspect that people who don't know the traffic laws (and don't do well on the test) would possibly be the worst drivers.

You got bit by 'legal' VS 'correct' on that one.

Chris

Tests like that don't tell near as much as they pretend to. A couple of those questions are just stupid in my opinion and the one that I got wrong, I would argue is simply a bad question. Check out #18 ;

1. When you approach a traffic signal displaying a steady yellow light, you must:

A. Go through the intersection before it turns red B. Stop if it is safe to do so C. Be prepared to stop D. Slow down

First off, this should never happen unless something is malfunctioning. To me that makes it a ridiculous question. You can see my answer here. They say Stop if it is safe to do so. To me that's ignorant, other drivers see yellow, they are thinking caution, be prepared to stop, they might even be staring at the stupid stuck yellow light and guess who's arse they are going to crash into sitting stopped in the road! Idiotic really.

I remember watching some safety movie bs once where they declared that "a safe driver goes 5 years w/o ever squealing a tire". The movie was made in the 50's and DPS was still quoting it on their defensive driving test! I just laughed! In Houston, if you drive a serious commute (and you don't have abs) you might 'squeal a tire once a month! That's if you're super careful and defensive. If you're inpatient and pushy, you'll probably have to pull off a panic stop once a week!

Chris

Where I live, traffic signals display a steady yellow for a while before switching to red. Last time I was in Texas, it was the same there. ;)

Because the light is about to switch to red, and it's illegal to enter the intersection when the light is red.

Around here, they're thinking "if I hit the gas now, I can probably make it through before the red has been on for more than 2 seconds". In most (but not all) areas of the US, there is a 1-second overlap after one direction turns red and the cross-traffic signal turns green. Add on a another second for the cross traffic to react and start moving, and some people around here seem to figure that it's still kosher to fly through the intersection during the first couple seconds of a red.

I think you're misinterpretted "steady" yellow. They mean a normal red/yellow/green traffic signal that's showing yellow -- as opposed to a "permanent" flashing yellow light like you find in some rural intersections.

As in all tests, the object is not to answer the question that was asked, but rather to ask the question that was intended. :)

They don't give the correct answer which is

E. FLOOR IT, THERE'S A RED COMING!

I'm with Chris. It doesn't say the light is briefly showing yellow before turning red, it says "steady yellow". Malfunctioning. Correct answer is to call the city and report it.

Now, what would you do for a flashing green? That's what I ran into my first trip to Winnipeg. I pulled over and stopped.

miker

I have a friend whose car was rear-ended by a state cop when he stopped at a yellow light. The cop's comment was something like - "I didn't think you'd stop - it was only yellow."

----- Ive & Vixen

A friend had his motorcycle wrecked when he stopped at a stop sign, the lady who hit him told the police, "I had no idea he was going to stop, nobody stops there!"

It's hard to believe people that stupid are driving....

I can't decide which was stupider: hitting your friend, or giving that excuse to the cops. Did she earn a sobriety test?

No, it was in the morning, she was sober, just not paying any attention. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt, unfortunately, the bike was a total.

Got 100 but I admit that I guessed on a couple. I wasn't sure about the fog question, whether you should use low beams or fog lights. And I also thought the steady yellow light question was misleading.

Having said all that, I notice that large numbers of people somehow manage to fail this test. How is that even possible?

How could anything else be possible? Haven't you noticed the huge number of people on the road who don't know the traffic laws and demonstrate their lack of knowledge every minute they drive?

any time i am coming to a stop, and especially on my 93 bmw k 1100 lt,

i slow well before the need to stop and i look in my mirrors to ensure the

potential wingnut behind me is being attentive.

when stopped on the bike, i keep it in 1st and keep my eyes on the mirrors.

yes, it would be nice if we in the US had similar attitudes towards driving as many in Europe.(granted some boot shaped countries are less than courteous drivers :).

Germany is probably the best example, with the well engineered autobahn, cars and laws and "common sense".

indeed, decades ago bmw lost market share in the US because they didnt have cup holders and the Germans could not understand why anyone would do anything other than drive in a car....

the one law i wish were enforced is the "drive right" law where slower vehicles should stay to the right

we can wish

peter

Nothing is more aggravating than two or more cars driving side by side at exactly the same speed, oblivious to the train of aggravated drivers behind. This is a very common occurrence on the Interstates, to some extent caused by cruise control coupled with extreme laziness. "Well, I could move out of the way, but then I'd have to pay attention for a couple of minutes..."