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Could you pass a driving test?

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 5:59 am
by Sheenar
Found this article on MSN ...

Could you pass a driving test?

from article wrote: One in six motorists on U.S. roads would fail a written test on driving, according to new data from insurer GMAC.
Using 20 questions taken from actual tests around the country, GMAC polled 5,524 licensed drivers from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Though the average score improved slightly over last year, nearly 33 million drivers would be unable to pass the exam, the insurer concluded.


You can take the test yourself to see how you'd do...I, unfortunately, made a 75% --but it has been a while since I read my driver's handbook (not since driver's ed 5 years ago).

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:39 am
by Warrior4Christ
Hehe... I got 90%, and these aren't even the road rules we have here...

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:55 am
by rii namuras
[color="Red"](I got a 65%, but I can safely say a large majority of the wrong answers were correct in my [old] state. Different state, different laws.)

(The actual test in Florida is a lot easier than that. Which is strange, because you'd think with the high tourist areas it'd be a bit tougher.)[/color]

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:19 am
by ashfire
I seen this on the news. I live in the area which is considered by the written drivers test to have the rate of second dumbist drivers. Washington DC.
New Jersey came in first.
I have always knew this area had idiot drivers.
I have to take annual driver classes for the my work and the volunteer fire dept because its required as training for their protection.
I have even served on a drivers safety training committee to set up the courses.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:40 am
by Radical Dreamer
80%! XD I wasn't familiar with some of the questions (I've never even seen a flashing red light), but for the most part, I think I did pretty well. XD

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:56 am
by Mr. SmartyPants
>_>

<_<

60%

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:12 am
by RobinSena
65%. I don't have a permit(sometime in the next 6 months) and I haven't read any of the handbook yet.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:42 am
by Sheenar
Radical Dreamer (post: 1231820) wrote:80%! XD I wasn't familiar with some of the questions (I've never even seen a flashing red light), but for the most part, I think I did pretty well. XD


We have the flashing red lights around here --mostly when the traffic lights go out -- it'll just blink red and you treat it like a 4--way stop --but sometimes it gets crazy because apparently some people can't agree on who has the right of way. XD

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:46 am
by Suzysaver
0.o 65%...i suck apparently meh

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 11:00 am
by LadyRushia
Ha, I got an 80%. I know the rules. :P

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:31 pm
by Nikolai Melodie
I got an 88% the first time I took the test

in Michigan, that's a FAILURE. I had to try again the next day for a 90%

:/ If Only I'd slept the night before.... maybe I wouldn't have that hanging over my head forever xD

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:31 pm
by eternalprincess
I got 84% and a permit. I beat my state's average. XDD

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:36 pm
by Kaligraphic
I got 100% - looks pretty close to California driving laws.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 1:55 pm
by GeneD
I got 60%.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 2:19 pm
by uc pseudonym
Due to my Kansas driving genes, I got a 100%.

Some of these laws are arbitrary (signals, lines) but I certainly hope no one is getting some of the others wrong. A lot of those you really should be able to answer if you're driving a vehicle.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 2:29 pm
by Mr. SmartyPants
Nikolai Melodie (post: 1231858) wrote:I got an 88% the first time I took the test

in Michigan, that's a FAILURE. I had to try again the next day for a 90%

:/ If Only I'd slept the night before.... maybe I wouldn't have that hanging over my head forever xD

Oddly enough, I passed my driving test with a perfect score while also being sleep deprived. XD

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 2:57 pm
by bakura_fan
I got an 80. Two of the questions I didn't like the answers to. Where I'm from, if you tailgate someone you can get pulled over for it. also, the merging on the freeway one was confusing but now that I look at it, I shoulda gone with my gut. I hate driving tests cause I feel like there's trick questions everywhere. =_= luckily I passed mine the first time...

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:00 pm
by Maledicte
%80. I messed up on the same questions the article mentioned.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:01 pm
by ShiroiHikari
YES. 85%. XD I only missed 3 questions.

The flashing yellow light thing has always confused me. @_@ You don't see too many of those.

As for the ones the article mentioned, I got the steady yellow light one right. :D I missed the following distance one; I thought it was longer than three seconds. >_>

And finally, I missed the fog lights thing. I put that you should just use your fog lights. D'oh.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:40 pm
by mechana2015
80% and I erred on the side of caution for following distance.

I missed both yellow light questions.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 3:59 pm
by Warrior4Christ
-We don't have flashing red lights! I'm pretty sure they don't exist here.
-We do have flashing yellow lights though, and I couldn't remember the exact official meaning here - not that it would help much in the test.
-We don't have yellow road lines.
-We don't have school buses with flashing red lights.
-We drive on the other side of the road, and I had to mentally convert feet to metres. XD
-The following distance here is "greater than 2 seconds".
-And I don't remember if we have a specific rule for cars about a pedestrian crossing the road whenever they feel like it.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 4:18 pm
by Roy Mustang
Warrior4Christ wrote:-We don't have flashing red lights! I'm pretty sure they don't exist here.


The only places that I see flashing red lights is out of the country and some of these questions don't fit for all states.

Plus, I think this test is lame since I didn't like this question.

A pedestrian is crossing your lane but there is no crosswalk. You should:



Where was the option in that question for, no crosswalk = frogger!


[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:32 pm
by ShiroiHikari
Yeah, also, what if you're going like 45 MPH and there's some dude tailgating you when you stop to let the pedestrian pass? Car accident~

PostPosted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:40 pm
by Aileen Kailum
I got a 90. Not bad, considering I still can't parallel park.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:10 pm
by Angel Tifa
I got 55% hehe X_____X. :hits_self :bang::bang:

And I have my license and car. Don't worry I never got into any accidents.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:15 pm
by uc pseudonym
ShiroiHikari wrote:I missed the following distance one]
Three seconds seemed pretty low to me too, but then I realized just how far you travel in that time. Ten seconds would be ridiculously far in front of you.

bakurafan wrote:Where I'm from, if you tailgate someone you can get pulled over for it.

That's the point of the question, actually. You're supposed to think "tailgating is bad" and thus pick "You can frustrate the other drivers and make them angry" as opposed to the answers that have positive connotations.

Warrior4Christ wrote:-We don't have flashing red lights! I'm pretty sure they don't exist here.

These things can be surprisingly local. There are some in my town, yet not in many nearby ones of all sizes.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:28 pm
by GeneD
To me a flashing red light just means it's broken.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:27 pm
by Kaligraphic
Out where I am, sometimes regular traffic lights stop working normally, and just flash red. I suspect that it's just a default behavior when they lose the signal from the traffic control system. You can't just stop traffic entirely simply because of a glitch like that, so the rules just say to treat it like a stop sign in that case. It's less efficient, but it keeps things moving, at least.

The flashing yellow light question caught me at first, because normal traffic lights don't flash the yellow light, but I figured that it must mean separate installations that only have a yellow light. They have those sometimes on crosswalks or other places where you need to pay attention.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:24 pm
by KhakiBlueSocks
70%...hey, I passed!

PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:15 am
by Warrior4Christ
uc pseudonym (post: 1232167) wrote:Three seconds seemed pretty low to me too, but then I realized just how far you travel in that time. Ten seconds would be ridiculously far in front of you.

Yep. That equates to just six cars passing a fixed point per minute (independent of speed, obviously). That's quite a buffer.

The tailgating time always gets a mention in our tests... I'm surprised at the number of people who aren't familiar with the approximate time length..

uc pseudonym (post: 1232167) wrote:These things can be surprisingly local. There are some in my town, yet not in many nearby ones of all sizes.

If the laws relating to it are also local, then its inclusion in a national test is questionable...

Kaligraphic (post: 1232186) wrote:The flashing yellow light question caught me at first, because normal traffic lights don't flash the yellow light, but I figured that it must mean separate installations that only have a yellow light. They have those sometimes on crosswalks or other places where you need to pay attention.

The flashing yellow lights do exist in the red-yellow-green variety of traffic lights too. Perhaps they are also localised.