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Insurance company GMAC surveyed drivers across the country and found that NY State drivers are terrible - they only rank 47th when asked questions from DMV test. Well, we're not that surprised, given what we've seen, but we'd like to know where NJ drivers ranked, but it's Gothamist's firm belief that the crap drivers are not just in NYC but all over the state. Anyway, the state with the most knowledgable drivers? Oregon. One of the questions NY drivers did worst on was when is the road most slippery. "1) During a heavy rainstorm; 2) During light rain; 3) Just when it starts to rain after a dry spell." We'll put the answer in the comments.
You can take the same test here and see how you do.
Photograph of license plate seen near City Hall from Triborough on Flickr
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The answer is 3 - I actually did remember that from Driver's Ed.
What's driver's Ed?
So who needs driver's ed? I knew that from bicycling. When you're on two wheels, you're even more vulnerable to bad road conditions and need to know what to avoid that you wouldn't even think about in a car, like wet manhole covers and steel plates, wet road striping, patches of wet leaves, etc. Everybody should be forced to learn how to properly handle a bicycle or motorcycle in traffic before they're allowed to drive cars. It would sharpen skills immeasurably.
95% here and I never even learned how to drive. NY drivers really should be ashamed for doing so badly on the test. Unfortunately, shame is not a common commodity in the city. It's much too easy to get a license to control a hurtling 4000-pound projectile and even easier to keep it.
Actually, the test itself, as posted on GMAC, seems to suck. "Which of the following must you obey of the other three" - huh?
Assuming that the folks at the insurance co simply copied down some phrases wrong, I still can't see how this measures one's fitness to drive.
Actually, that's how the written tests really are.
That test could have most definitely used a healthy spellcheck. Some it is so painfully difficult to read. Example "c. Until after pass the sign" or "Which of the following must you obey of the other three"
New York City drivers are terrible and that is a large amount of NYS drivers. Half of the traffic problems are because the roads are congested, the other half is idiots on the road. Stopping for no reason, rubbernecking, and switching lanes for no reason whatsoever.
anybody from the jersey shore will tell you, new yorkers are some of the worst drivers around, based on observations of the H2-driving families from queens that are clogging up roads this weekend.
Remember the scene from "Taxi" where Jim Ignatowski is taking the written part of his Driver's Exam and askd "What does a yellow light mean?" Alex: "Slow down." Jim: "What does a yellow light mean?" Only in New York, kids!
a. Other vehicles for any reason
b. Unless it seems safe to do so
c. Until after pass the sign
They didn't even have a proofreader read the test. c. was the right answer, apparently.
("passING the sign" or "after YOU pass the sign"
and "off the pavement"? WRONG! If there's a paved shoulder, that's still pavement. I'm not putting my car in a ditch because some lame insurance company can't get their test right!
Well I'm glad that new yorkers got more wrong. I took the test, and there's blatently false answers there:
1) Use your high beam headlights at night. They say "Whenever it is legal and safe", I say "As little as possible". It's rude to shine high beams into peoples windows, and using the high beams shouldn't be the default as their choice implies.
2) Where should you park when you need help after your tire suddenly deflates while driving on a highway? They say: "Off the pavement". I couldn't find a good answer, as many highways around here don't let you off the pavement.
3) The following sign indicates (they show a right lane ending sign), and they say: "Less space between lanes ahead". Crazy! A little googling found this sign to be named "Lane Reduction Transition" and it really does mean the lane is ending.
So I suspect new yorkers knew the most. Now that hardly makes any of us good drivers :)
As 5 minutes spent crossing a couple of intersections will tell you, "driving well" has very little to do with being able to remember what a lot of signs mean, and a lot to do with not acting like an arrogant a-hole with a deathwish.
I would have preferred to see questions like:
1) When is it acceptable to constantly change lanes for no reason?
2) What kind of f*ckwit drives into an intersection and gets stuck in there when the lights change?
3) Exactly when is it OK to roll forward over the pedestrian crossing just because you got tired of holding your foot on the brake?
4) Honking your horn all the time to dispel angry feelings means you are what kind of sh*t-for-brains-douche?
5) You are in a right-turn-only lane, but you didn't mean to be. The lights change and you can either (a) make the turn, to not block the traffic, then get back onto your route another way. (b) Sit there like a dogturd and piss everyone else off.
NYC drivers would still come bottom of the class, but at least it would be deserved.
As someone who has lived in both the NY and DC metro areas, I opine that the most dysfunctional and slow drivers are from Maryland.
I'm sure a majority of the fine folks at DCist would second this statement.