New Yorkers score lowest on the driver's test
No disrespect to our friends on the East Coast, but in the "survey results that will probably surprise no one" category: drivers from New York scored the lowest on a Department of Motor Vehicles driving test survey. That doesn't mean New Yorkers are bad drivers ... ahem ... it simply means they don't know the right answers to questions about what to do on the road.
One hundred people from every state and Washington D.C. were given questions that apply to every state from DMV tests. The nationwide average was 77.1 percent. The Big Apple scored 71 percent. But NY isn't alone -- the bottom five states are all on the Eastern Seaboard. And which state do you think had the best group of respondents? That's right: Idaho, leading the curve with 87.1 percent. Second best? Alaska. Apparently, you do better on driving tests in states where you're more likely to hit something other than a person. Who knew?
Thanks for the tip, Peter!
[Source: CNN]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mikomi 2:16PM (5/25/2007)
I can definitely see Alaska at the top. In Anchorage, they live alongside wildlife: bears, moose, you name it! If a moose is on the road, who has the right of way? the moose of course. That's only common sense because a moose can level a car with little difficulty.
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Allan 2:22PM (5/25/2007)
See... the rest of the state gets a bad rap from people that were probably from NYC and don't know jack about driving.
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Keith 2:23PM (5/25/2007)
And in other news......shit stinks.
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Sam 3:10PM (5/25/2007)
jeez, finally a report to show us NYers how bad we are! i live there and i have to say, many of them suck big time. no signaling when changing lanes or making left turns, they just wait till the last second and once there in the next street or lane they'll put their signal on. many of them either go way to fast or way to slow. I saw one guy last night stop at a red light at a busy intersection, look both ways then mash the throttle and take off. a friend of mine passes cars on blind curves. NY drivers....what idiots.
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george 9:49AM (5/26/2007)
hey sam i just moved from nyc to texas come get a load of these asses over here they make new yorkers look like kittens oh and so do floridians they think there dale jr trying to run your car off the highway all the time if you aint doing a buck fity
Rob 3:14PM (5/25/2007)
From my experience driving in NYC, it seems like knowing the rules is the lowest priority. The most important thing is having decent situational awareness, knowing who is passing you or in your blind spot, etc. Other than that, everyone just kinda does what they want.
http://blog.thetechnonaut.com
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ANdy 3:17PM (5/25/2007)
Why are New Yorkers such bad drivers? Or rather, why do they do so poorly in the written test? I'm a bit baffled by this.
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Patrick 3:31PM (5/25/2007)
I moved to the greater NYC-CT area last year and even though I'm in the CT part, people around here really are horrible on the roads. It's probably part socialogical, part a crappy DMV system, part crappy driver's Ed program, and just the fact that everyone in this area feels they come before everyone else and should ahve the highest priority, so screw that turn signal, I need to turn now!
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mt 6:01PM (5/28/2007)
New Yorkers aren't bad drivers. We just have our own way of doing things that tend to scare out-of-towners.
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A_B 3:46PM (5/25/2007)
As a resident of New York CITY, I take offense to this post because it misreads the study and the article. The study found drivers in New York STATE scored the lowest.
The "Big Apple" is New York CITY.
New York CITY is not New York STATE.
I hate to speak to people like they don't know the difference between a state and a city, but apparently it confused the original poster and people making comments.
"The average score nationwide was 77.1 (out of 100). Respondents from New York state had the lowest average score, answering just 71 percent of the questions correctly."
I blame the dipshits from upstate for skewing the results. That's my theory, all evidence that most NYCers can't drive to save their lives to the contrary.
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Weary Traveller 4:32PM (5/25/2007)
There are 2 places in all the world I've been to that I found myself I couldn't drive: Bangkok and Seoul.
NYC is the one other place in the states that I refuse to drive in. Now I know for sure it wasn't because of the joke by some late night comedian once upon a time.
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Cameron 4:39PM (5/25/2007)
I'm from Idaho, and I'm not surprised that we did well. Most people here are acceptable drivers when it comes to theory and knowledge of the laws, but when it comes down to road manners, we have a lot to learn. Try merging onto the Connector from Chinden blvd. headed downtown in heavy traffic. You might as well be merging into a brick wall.
Too bad our $10 seat belt ticket keeps us from getting $4.5 million annually in federal funds for road improvements for the state. Blame the "govument aint gunna tell me what ta doo" crowd.
According to law enforcement statistics, if the fine for not wearing a seat belt were to be increased so that offenders payed the annual monetary costs to deal with incidents in which the lack of a seat belt caused injury or death, a seat belt ticket in Idaho would cost at least $350. (Garden City Police Dept.) The lack of a stiffer seat belt fine is losing the great state of Idaho millions of dollars every year, and causing thousands of unnecessary injuries and deaths.
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far jr 6:12PM (5/25/2007)
What a surprise that rural Americans actually know more about traffic laws (which are simply common courtesy toward other drivers) than urban Americans. If you have ever lived in both environments, you can clearly understand this.
I will admit that the results may be skewed due to the fact that many NYC residents may not actually drive. They may only commute via public transit and thus be unfamiliar with traffic laws. NYC drivers aren't all bad but the few bad apples really stick out due to thier total disregard for others.
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paul34 6:23PM (5/25/2007)
This is really true for drivers in this entire country. They don't know the first thing about road courtesy and little things called RULES.
Pass on the right on the highway? Sure, why not!
Change signals just feet from my bumper with no signal and pretend like that's ok? Sure, why not!
Run the red light despite a 30 second light change gap? Absolutely!
Tail me when you could easily pass me on the space I made for you? Yea!
Block the left lane on a roadway? Yup, love it.
Create a "wall" of sub-speed limit traffic on any road, COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS TO THE HUGE TRAFFIC BLOCK BEHIND YOU... yes! more! please!
Slow down to look at accidents... yes! Because I am an idiot!
I am the only thing that matters, and everyone else must drive to accomodate me and my 4 MPG SUV! Yes!
Welcome to America. We hope you enjoy (survive) your stay.
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zahn 8:19AM (5/26/2007)
In Poland, you have to get 89% on the theoretical test to even get to the practical section of the driving exam. So what kind of questions were those?
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george 9:50AM (5/26/2007)
the pictures speak for themselves put the top scoring states in a nyc street then get back 2 me .my 6 yr old could drive through the top scoring states without an accident.And a defensive driving course teaches you more then the written test to get your license.Ive driven through half the country and i must say i felt saver driving with the million people in new york then the small towns in other states.
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