GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test

Executive Summary

 

Americans are only required to pass a driving test once in a lifetime. And since that pivotal rite of passage, most of us have never been re-tested or brushed up on the rules of the road.  With this in mind, GMAC Insurance set out to gauge the current knowledge of the American driving public with its inaugural GMAC Insurance National Driving Test. 

 

4,900 licensed drivers between ages 16-65 years[1] were given a 20-question test typical of a DMV written drivers test used to award a driver’s permit or license.  The test was administered and analyzed by the independent research firm TNS NFO.  To achieve a total sample representative of the American driving public, data was balanced by state, age and gender.  In addition, the study gauged people’s behavior on the road.  The results were eye opening…

 

KEY FINDINGS

• 20 million licensed drivers may be unfit for roads: If tested today, nearly 20 million
  people would fail a test similar to one required to get a driver’s license. That’s 1 in of 10
  drivers on the roads today who failed to demonstrate adequate knowledge of the rules of
  the road. 
• Oregon  and the Midwest  have the most knowledgeable drivers; Rhode Island and
  the Northeast the least.
  • Oregon’s drivers are the most knowledgeable with an average score of 89%.
  • Rhode Island’s drivers are the least knowledgeable with an average score of 77%. 
  • Northeast drivers are the least knowledgeable in the country with 1 out of 5 failing the test. 
  • Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes region drivers are the most
    knowledgeable (failure rate of 1%-3%) 
• Experience May Be the Best Teacher
  • Younger drivers, 18-24 years, are most likely to fail a written driving test.
  • Older drivers, 50-64 years, are most likely to pass a written driving test.

 

GENERAL DRIVING SAFETY KNOWLEDGE: WHERE AMERICANS ARE LACKING

 

Pedestrians Beware

• At least 1 out of 5 drivers do not know that a pedestrian has the right of way at a marked or unmarked crosswalk.  This is of special concern considering that drivers in urban areas are among the least knowledgeable in the nation. 
• 1 out of 3 drivers claim to speed up to make a yellow light even when pedestrians are in the crosswalk.
• 1 out of four drivers would roll through a stop sign rather than come to a complete stop. 

 

According the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, research shows that forty-three percent of all pedestrian injuries and twenty-two percent of fatal injuries to pedestrians occur in collisions with

motor vehicles at intersections.

 

Fasten Your Seatbelts: Speeding is a Problem

• The nation’s least knowledgeable drivers (Northeast drivers) are the most likely to speed.
• Nebraska’s drivers are least likely to exceed the speed limit.
• 1 out of 10 drivers regularly drives over the speed limit by 11 or more miles per hour, although 58% of drivers feel that driving 10 miles per hour over the speed limit on the interstate is extremely/somewhat dangerous.  
• Younger drivers, age 18-24, are most likely to speed while older drivers, age 65 +, are
  least likely to speed.

 

American’s Are Cavalier About Drinking and Driving

• One-third of drivers who drink, 57 million people, admit that they would drink and drive
  even if they suspected that they were over the legal limit as long as they “felt okay” to
  drive. 
• Drivers aged 25-49 were the most likely to say they would drink and drive.   

 

More Bad Driving Habits

• Half of Americans do not know how to merge into heavy traffic.
• 60% of Americans change lanes on a highway without using their blinker.
• One third of Americans have packed their car so tightly that their vision was obstructed.
• 17% of Americans have driven without a rear view or driver’s side mirror.
• At least 1 out of 5 drivers do not know that highways are the most slippery just when it starts to rain after a dry spell.  Fortunately, 96% of those tested know what to do when they hydroplane.