Behind The Sound Bite: Safe Drivers?
If Massachusetts required its residents to re-take their written driver’s license exams, close to one-third of us would be in trouble. That’s according to the GMAC Insurance Personal Lines Group, which recently released the results of its annual test of the nation’s drivers ranked by the states in which they reside. GMAC said that the results mean that drivers may run an increased risk of accidents or “near-accidents.” While the GMAC survey paints a negative picture of Massachusetts drivers, other stats on actual accidents show that Bay Staters aren’t that dangerous behind the wheel after all.
Where does Massachusetts rank among its peers?
It was bad news for the Bay State. Only 71 percent of residents who took the exam, which culls questions from Registry of Motor Vehicle license tests, received a passing grade. Massachusetts plummeted 11 spots in the rankings to 47th in the nation out of 50 states and the District of Columbia. New York surpassed Massachusetts in 2010, climbing six spots to 45th place after spending three years at dead last.
But are we truly unsafe?
Poor results on an online drivers exam taken by 5,130 people across the country does not seem to equate to more fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Bay State had 0.61 fatalities per 1 million miles driven in 2009, an improvement from the 2005 rate of 0.80, according to the NHTSA. New York had 0.87 fatalities per million miles in 2009, down from 1.03 in 2005.
What are drivers doing wrong?
According to GMAC, the top mistake drivers are making on the road is multitasking. That includes fiddling with gadgets like cellphones and GPS systems. The second biggest mistake is following too closely behind another vehicle.
Want to see what you are doing wrong? Visit www.gmacinsurance.com/SafeDriving.
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