SMIDSY's and attitude of car drivers

[Cab]

A few think that they are better drivers than they are.

Most think they are better drivers than they are. Ask people whether they're better or worse than the average driver...

 

[Twenty Inch]

Yes, that's true Cab. "50% of our children are below average..."

 

[Cab]

If I remember correctly, 55% when surveyed said they're better than the average driver, and only 1% said they're worse than average. A hell of a lot of them have to be wrong.

 

[joolsybools]

Define 'average' though

 

[BentMikey]

If I remember correctly, 55% when surveyed said they're better than the average driver, and only 1% said they're worse than average. A hell of a lot of them have to be wrong.

IIRC 85%

 

[adscrim]

from here

• A survey of British motorists[1] found that:
  • 40% rated the overall standard of driving as bad but only 2% rated their own driving as bad
  • 24% rated the overall standard of driving as good, but 75% rated their own standard as good
• An attempt to research ways of correcting drivers' overestimate of their skills failed due to the unwillingness of drivers to accept even the most obvious driving errors.[2]
• A survey of motorway drivers[3] found that:
  • on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (good), they rated themselves as an average 3.9 with other drivers being rated as 2.7.
  • 39% admitted having "nodded off" on the motorway
  • one third underestimated safe stopping distances.
• Up to 80% of drivers surveyed rate themselves "above average" on a number of important characteristics.[4]
• Study subjects were asked about their competence as drivers in relation to a group of drivers. The results showed that a majority of subjects regarded themselves as more skillful and less risky than the average driver in each group respectively.[5]

I have some more sources on order, but everything I can find essentially says the same thing: most drivers consider themselves to be better than most other drivers, to an extent that is not consistent with any plausible non-normal distribution of skill (if such could be proposed without violating Occam's razor). Whether this is due to their overestimation of their own skill, their falsely low perception of the skill of others, or a bit of both, is not always clear, but the Dunning-Kruger hypothesis indicates a bit of both.

 

[irc]

Are we finally seeing a change in attitude from car drivers?
I sincerely hope so.

Nope. Not in the amusing incident I saw today. I heard the crunch of a low speed impact and saw Vehicle 1 with it's reversing lights on having stopped at a T junction then reversed into the rear of Vehicle 2 which had stopped close behind it. Driver 1 was intending to reverse into a tight parking space and hadn't checked his mirrors before the reverse.

And the amusing bit? They were both white van drivers who thereafter started to swear at each other as each denied any blame for the bump.

IMO mainly driver 1 at fault but not helped by driver 2 stopping so close behind him there wasn't time for a horn warning.

After the verbals both drove off without any exchange of details . Both vehicles had enough other dents and scrapes that one more woudn't matter.

 

[CopperBrompton]

from here

• A survey of British motorists[1] found that:
  • 40% rated the overall standard of driving as bad but only 2% rated their own driving as bad
  • 24% rated the overall standard of driving as good, but 75% rated their own standard as good

And less than 1% (IIRC) have ever put their opinion of their driving to the test by taking an advanced driving test.

 

[automatic_jon]

After a few near misses with people pulling out into my path and one wallop where the driver just pulled straight through me as I was turning right on a roundabout (I walked away form it, my bike didn't). I've come realise the only way to stay safe is to assume that every motorist left home that morning with the stated intention to kill as many cyclists as possible. I know this isn't (always) the case, but if I'm thinking that then I'm not going to give to one or two who do drive that way, the opportunity.

 

[thomas]

After a few near misses with people pulling out into my path and one wallop where the driver just pulled straight through me as I was turning right on a roundabout (I walked away form it, my bike didn't). I've come realise the only way to stay safe is to assume that every motorist left home that morning with the stated intention to kill as many cyclists as possible. I know this isn't (always) the case, but if I'm thinking that then I'm not going to give to one or two who do drive that way, the opportunity.

I think it is better to assume that no one else on the road knows what they're doing.

 

[automatic_jon]

I think it is better to assume that no one else on the road knows what they're doing.

That's certainly how I consider my own riding.