This post is going to be very Utah-centric. I apologize in advance, but continue on anyway.
You know how people tend to complain that Utah drivers are absolutely horrible, and how whatever state the the complainee came from has much better drivers? And you know how Utah drivers often say it’s all the people who move to Utah from California who are really the bad drivers?
Well now there is proof that it really is those Californians! Actually, it turns out a lot of Americans are horrible drivers. “Results from the 2009 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test released today found that 20.1 percent of licensed Americans – amounting to roughly 41 million drivers on the road – would not pass a written drivers test exam if taken today.” [link to the source of the quote and details] This is incredibly sad and kind of frightening considering how easy the written tests are.
How did Utah do? Number 7. Idaho came in at number 1. And California? Number 48. That’s right, it really is those bad California drivers that are so troubling on Utah’s roadways! New York came in last.
Sadly, I live in the District of Columbia. We came in at number 44. And we totally deserve that rating. The drivers here are horrible! But I came from Utah, so I’m clearly a good driver. I mean, obviously.
(Quick note before the snarking in the comments commences: Though the story that generated this post clearly correlates how a person does on the written test with how a person actually drives, I don’t know if there really is a correlation there. I mean, it’s certainly possible and even probable, but I don’t actually know. But I’m willing to go with it for now.)