Comments on: The Californians really are to blame

By: CiCi

CiCi — Wed, 27 May 2009 01:59:30 +0000

I’ve been a non-member and a convert, a California driver and a Utah driver…in other words, I’ve seen it all, driven there and back, lived to tell the tale and share the gospel!

There was a wonderful degree of difficulty to driving in California that I grew up understanding and no other freeway feels like home, and other state’s drivers just don’t quite get it as well as we do.

Insert your own state in that “state”ment and it applies, I’m sure.

By: Seth R.

Seth R. — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:11:00 +0000

Did they use a single test for everyone?

Because I’ve heard California has a much harder written test than Utah’s.

By: Mark D.

Mark D. — Mon, 25 May 2009 03:43:02 +0000

I have never seen an open book drivers license test in Utah, btw.

By: Mark D.

Mark D. — Mon, 25 May 2009 03:42:23 +0000

Any drivers license division facility that allows an open book drivers license test is derelict in its duty. The practice of allowing drivers who do not pass to study and retake the test soon thereafter is one I have seen and which seems reasonable to me.

As far as honking goes, I don’t mind if it is short and given after a reasonable time interval has expired for the driver to notice the issue.

By: kelly ann

kelly ann — Mon, 25 May 2009 03:18:07 +0000

When I got my Utah Driver’s license, it was openbook …

California’s is not.

I think that explains a lot :-0.

By: Bradley Ross

Bradley Ross — Mon, 25 May 2009 01:05:56 +0000

I live in Utah where I take someone honking a car horn as a sign of displeasure. On my first trip to New York City a couple of months ago (I wasn’t driving), I was surprised at the large amount of honking that seemed to be entirely polite. It seemed that cabbies were pressing the horn to let people know they were moving around them.

By: Dan

Dan — Sun, 24 May 2009 01:22:20 +0000

Growing up in California, I loved to just get in my car and take a drive on the freeways in the San Jose area. After moving to Utah and driving around for a while, I’ve never liked driving anymore.

Take that for what it is.

By: Floyd the Wonderdog

Floyd the Wonderdog — Sat, 23 May 2009 11:41:39 +0000

John Mansfiled’s Korean friend has the right thought. The link between passing a written test (e.g. How far away from the curb can you park?) and courteous yet defensive driving is not a given. Correlation is not causation.

By: Mark D.

Mark D. — Sat, 23 May 2009 05:41:07 +0000

Geoff B (#3), the Allstate statistics are number of years between accidents, which is affected by a number of other factors beyond driver safety – notably commuting distance, weather, congestion, infrastructure age, road maintenance level, design of streets and intersections, urban planning, and so on.

By: Geoff B

Geoff B — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:16:58 +0000

Clark, they? I think you mean “we.”