Driver’s Exam

Jerry Reynolds is a retired automobile dealer who   hosts a weekly radio show called the Car Pro.  Most of today’s post is borrowed from his newsletter where he borrowed it from someone else.  It was originally on  Car Insurance.com.

It may not surprise you to learn that Most Drivers Can’t Pass a Driver’s License Exam!

Forty-four percent of the 500 drivers who answered 20 questions that are typically on a driver’s license test scored less than 80 percent, the passing grade in most states. The average score was 75 percent.
“The rules of the road are meant to reduce uncertainty and risk,” said CarInsurance.com managing editor Des Toups. “All you have to do is meet another car at a four-way stop to know that most of us leave a lot of that knowledge behind at the DMV.”
The most missed questions — all of which were pulled from state department of motor vehicles practice tests — involved pedestrians and school buses.
Fifty-eight percent missed this question:
Give the right of way to any pedestrian who is:
1. In a marked crosswalk.
2. In any crosswalk or intersection.
3. Crossing any street.
(The correct answer is No. 3.)

Sixty-eight percent missed this question:
You are approaching a school bus that has stopped on the other side of a divided highway.
1. Stop and wait for it to load or unload children.
2. Stop, check for children, then proceed.
3. Stop and wait until the flashing red lights go off.
4. Watch for children and be ready to stop.
(The correct answer is No. 4.)

On the flip side, 93 percent of drivers got this question correct:
When should you use a horn?
1. For warning purposes, such as to alert other drivers to an impending collision.
2. To alert other drivers that they are doing something wrong.
3. Whenever you feel like it.
4. If a driver or bicyclist is going too slow.
(The correct answer is No. 1.)

“We may have great horn skills,” Toups noted, “but we’ve got some work to do otherwise. Not knowing the rules means you spend your time behind the wheel offended or unsure, and neither of those is very safe or productive.”

Women scored somewhat higher than men did, averaging 78 percent compared with 71 percent for the guys. Older drivers performed much better than younger drivers did, with those under age 40 scoring an average 67 percent compared with 79 percent for drivers over 40.
Only three drivers out of 500 scored 100 percent: a woman, age 30, a woman, age 51, and a man, age 64.
Take the 20-question CarInsurance.com driver’s license test at Drivers Exam.

For what it’s worth, I tried the test and got 19 out of 20 right.  I don’t feel too bad about missing one since I’m pretty sure that the one I missed actually had two correct answers.