After hearing about illusory superiority in driving with 80% of drivers thinking they are above average.
I've decided to conduct a super scientific poll to confirm this bias in the ozbargain community.
So overall in terms of skill, knowledge, safety, paying attention & being considerate, how do you think your driving would rate against the rest of the ozbargain community?
Gotta factor in driving skill / ability vs 'safe' driving.
There are safe drivers who are still 100% useless behind the wheel, have no situational awareness, can't perform parallel parks etc, and there are drivers who can drive a car well, but do so in an unsafe way.
This is not specific to driving, and there is even a scientific name for it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias whereby people with low ability, expertise, or experience regarding a certain type of task or area of knowledge tend to overestimate their ability or knowledge.
If you can stay in your lane, merge smoothly at a steady speed, turn in a clean arc and speed up/slow down smoothly and not smashing either pedal… you are definitely above average.
If you hesitate constantly, second guess your decisions to turn/merge, cant gauge what a 3 second gap is or just generally not confident driving then you are you are below average.
Racing for 3 years gave me a lot of experience on limits of vehicles but also being spatially aware of what the fook is happening around me at high speeds, which in turn has helped me avoid, proactively, other motorists and obstacles on the road.
I really took for granted and downplayed my experience in that craft until 4 years later when I went to a bucks party and set the fastest lap of the month, way ahead of anyone in our group, even though I'm of moderate weight. It was weird when you someone asks you how you do it, not able to put it down to anything other than experience.
'I went to a bucks party and set the fastest lap of the month'
lap … dance ? Do you come here often ? Sorry I already did …
Hah' you know when I posted I thought to myself, I've forgotten something.
It was karting but you're version of events sounds better ;)
I'm a bad driver. But I consider the visibility of my car. I would never buy a black car. It's just not as visible to people thus more of a risk.
And always use ddl lights.
I've considered colouring my car to improve visibility.
If you don't even consider these factors. Which are choices you make before you step into the car then you are a below AVG driver
3 yrs ago I got book for driving 80 in the 50 zone, the cop who pull me over complement me on my driving record which why he reduce my offence I lost 3 pts and pay 200 something.
reminds me of being stopped on my motorbike in peak-hour city traffic - I had been snaking between lines of stationary or slow-moving cars
the motorbike cop pulled up behind me and said with an admiring expression on his face 'you sliced through that traffic like a hot knife through butter !'
he let me off with a warning - thanks maaan !
Every one is a pro driver until they start checking their phone while driving
Poll results as of 2208 EDST 15/11/2022
79.1% of OzBargainers think they are above average driving ability (673 of 851 votes excluding public transport users)
Pretty accurate!
You shouldn't exclude the public transport users - they are the already banned drivers and those so bad they daren't drive.
If you indicate right when entering a standard 4 way roundabout with the intention of going straight then I hate you and you should lose your license. Also, if you think you are a great driver because you never had an accident then you are deluded. I find watching dashcams australia is really good for understanding the most common accidents on the road and poor driving behviour to be wary of.
Sticking to the rules ie. Going 50 in a 60zone, just means youre an obedient driver, doesn't necessarily mean you're a good driver. Got a couple of colleagues who would never speed and always indicate, but my God, their steering is so bad, and they take forever to reverse straight into a car park space.
I'm in Bangkok at the moment and I can tell you now they are better drivers than 99% of Australians.
Australians won't last 10 minutes with Thailand drivers.
As for me, I'm a good driver, defensive driver. Never had an at fault accident cause I can predict a driver's next move with typical driving in Sydney to avoid accidents.
yeah I've driven around Australia rural and urban so know different local cultures - have also driven in NYC, California, Japan, Taiwan, Bali, Vietnam, Athens, Italy, France, Germany, Europe, Switzerland, Austria and England.
having had my major motorbike accident (woke up in hospital in traction) my general advice is 'assume everyone else on the road is trying to kill you' - then you can start to anticipate and more carefully observe the body language of other drivers and avoid problems.
For sure!
In your perspective, how is Australian drivers compared to the other countries you've driven in?
Complete rubbish in world rankings Thailand's road toll one of the highest in the world, i can remember driving through surin at 140kmh n being overtaken by a double decker bus. And later i got pulled over by police got out my 100 baht bribe as usual, response " i drink whiskey not coffee my friend " another 100 baht n i was on my way. Thai police at their best. Thai drivers worst I've seen anywhere simply nobody follows any rules ever.
Following road rules does not equal to being a good driver, it makes you an obedient driver.
What's you bribing an officier got to do with being a good driver?
Keep on kidding yourself, no consequences for your actions = chaos and that's exactly what driving in Thailand is , chaos.
Wow, you are deluded. Not having an accident does not make you a good driver. Also people in Thailand are terrible bloody drivers. I saw so many near accidents when there and the number of crippled people from car accidents getting about are everywhere.
ah don't Think ahm a better driver - ah KNOW !
That's good, they can subsidise the insurance for all the drivers that are bad but haven't wrecked your car just yet.
Funny how people think they are a good driver if they follow road rules. A good driver is someone who is confident, doesn’t have accidents, doesn’t get fined, and keeps the road moving. I’m sure I traumatise others when I drive, but if they aren’t confident I can’t wait for them to make a move.
If you follow the road rules you won't have accidents*, won't get fined, and you'll keep the road moving.
*well, you will might but it will be because someone else isn't following the rules; e.g. at roundabouts when you don't give way to someone approaching from the right!
No where I am people go slow, don’t go around a double parked vehicle, hesitate, wait for clearance from others even if they have right of way etc. and they have heaps more accidents than the confident drivers.
Maybe 20% of drivers cause 80% of the accidents
You're above average if you:
1. Don't break randomly
2. Don't tail-gate
3. Use your blinkers
Everything else is above average.
I've seen too many people break too often and too abruptly. Then the next second they'll put on the gas and then the next second they're on the break again.
I'm just behind them a good 3 cars distance laughing at them not accelerating or breaking.
There is a reason why insurance companies ask about not-at-fault accidents.
There are a lot of drivers who are absolutely clueless about their surroundings and cause/trigger an accident, but it won't be considered as at fault accident and they still think they are good drivers:
80% may well think they are above average, but the bar for average is low.
The average driver can't enter or exit a roundabout correctly. Nor use two lanes when queued at lights.
Never had an accident or been fined, maybe 1 or 2 near misses for low-speed collisions over the last few years - I'd same I'm firmly above average.
I am in that 80%. I have been driving since 1999 and have had one speeding ticket (which technically wasn't actually mine because I took the fine for a mate that was riding my motorcycle with the incorrect licence) and two accidents (one car, one motorcycle) which I was deemed not at fault for both.
It's not as if I drive a Holden Cruze either, my current dailies are an XR8 Ute and a turbo Subaru Forester and I have a few roadbikes. I am just sensible about when I'm not sensible if you know what I mean..
This seems to be the place for a driving confessional… So I'd like to vent my frustrations as well 😀
I'm a true ozbargainer, so to get the most out of my fuel I usually don't accelerate as fast as everyone else, not super slow, just enough that some people get annoyed and change lanes to overtake me. Once I get to speed I'm usually 5-10km's over the limit (still haven't had a speeding fine in 10+ years) and the people that have now overtaken me are often now slower than me next to each other in all available lanes blocking my chance to overtake them back. Price I pay for saving fuel.
My two pet hates however are tailgating and what I can only describe as incompetence.
Tailgating:
I usually keep at least a 3 second gap, not only is this the recommended safe distance but also helps you save fuel with a larger gap. With that said, does this make me more of a target because somehow a safe gap is perceived as slow driving regardless of speed? So if there is someone in front of me on a dual lane road (one each direction) why tailgate? I can't go any faster and if I pull over you'll have the guy in front of me going slow. So by tailgating you're not going to get there any faster and all you're doing is p***ing me off while making the situation dangerous if I have to break suddenly. With all these motorcyclists claiming they are great drivers, why is it 9/10 motorcyclists I see tailgate? If someone has to break, a bike has half the traction to stop with 2 wheels and will always fair 2nd best if there is a collision.
Incompetence:
- On a red light, stop way further than needed before the car in front, then a minute later move closer to where you should've stopped in the first place (I think most manual car drivers will share this frustration, especially on an incline).
- People who don't know their car when driving between a slightly smaller than usual gap (but still easily large enough for their car) like left/right hand turn bays at lights. They refuse to drive through until it is bleedingly obviously large enough to fit through with a Boeing 747 in tow on the next cycle of lights.
- Driving into the middle of an intersection when there is no free space on the other side.
/rant
It's pretty easy to be in the top 20% in this population, all you have to do is not use your phone, drive to the conditions, stay alert and indicate when changing lanes.