The List that Surprises No One Who Lives Here

Just a reminder to those driving off to Memorial Day vacations this weekend; Rhode Islanders have made their annual appearance in the bottom 5 on GMAC Insurance’s list of worst drivers in the United States. From New York Newsday

The results of a recent driver survey released Thursday by GMAC Insurance seems to indicate they are – the average score by New Yorkers taking the written driver’s license test was 71. The failure rate was 36 percent.
New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts and Rhode Island joined New York in the bottom five…
The survey gauges driver knowledge by using actual questions from Department of Motor Vehicle exams.
Alas, we know in our hearts that it’s true.

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Greg
Greg
17 years ago

Wait wait wait. You guys have to pass a written test to get a license? Having seen you hacks drive for the last seven years I find that EXTREMELY hard to believe. Not a one of you knows the concepts of ‘right of way’, ‘Yield’, or ‘Merge’.

Marc Comtois
17 years ago

Greg, don’t forget the infamous “Rhody Block-and-Turn” whereby, if you are attempting to make a left turn onto a busy thoroughfare, you don’t wait for all lanes to be clear before executing the turn. Instead, you block 2 lanes of oncoming traffic so you can make that left turn…while expecting the oncoming traffic to allow you in, to boot! I never saw anything like it until I moved here.

Tom W
Tom W
17 years ago

>>Greg, don’t forget the infamous “Rhody Block-and-Turn” whereby, if you are attempting to make a left turn onto a busy thoroughfare, you don’t wait for all lanes to be clear before executing the turn. Instead, you block 2 lanes of oncoming traffic so you can make that left turn…while expecting the oncoming traffic to allow you in, to boot! I never saw anything like it until I moved here.
Not to be confused with the “Gotcha! Now you’re trapped behind me!” move in which a Rhode Island driver (intending to turn left) stops in the left lane of an intersection (e.g., when the light is red), but doesn’t turn on their turn signal (if they do at all) until AFTER they’ve stopped.
So those of us who were behind them and COULD HAVE moved over to the right lane if we’d been warned by the turn signal are now stuck behind the a**hole until after he/she completes their left turn (which usually takes a while due to traffic coming from the other direction).

Greg
Greg
17 years ago

Tom you mean that’s a game?! I just thought it was because people around here are idiots. The older I get, the less I like New Englanders.

SusanD
SusanD
17 years ago

“COULD HAVE moved over to the right lane if we’d been warned by the turn signal”
Signaling is a sign of weakness.

Mike
Mike
17 years ago

I think this is another overstated statistic. If you look at the fatality rate per thousand miles driven RI is consistently among the top 10 safest stastes.
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-30/ncsa/STSI/44_RI/2005/44_RI_2005.htm

SusanD
SusanD
17 years ago

Mike, keep that statistic under your hat. If we’re safe drivers, there is no need for enforcement and the corresponding revenue … er, fines.

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