What is it about driving that turns fairly intelligent people into complete idiots?

Do all Governments have to make road tests to get your license a lot more difficult, to really make sure people have a true understanding of the roads and it’s laws?

I think there are an endless number of reasons for the transformation. A really big factor that I think is greatly unappreciated is that a driver

license (just like a gun) is readily available to people who clearly have no business anywhere near a steering wheel. Fortunately a demonstration of certain skill levels is usually required to obtain a license (unlike a gun), but those of us who have learned to concentrate while tested, walk away with a license to kill now & pay later (maybe).

Don’t be so hard on truckers, some of them are a little more than “quite intelligent”

Because I was a young man filled with testosterone. Driving fast was simply fun. I needed the thrill and the adrenaline boost. I needed to feel the control and freedom.

I’ve learned to calm down, but there’s a reason insurance gets cheaper after 25. Now, I like to just drive at a semi normal pace and listen to loud music, because if I can’t even do that, driving is boring. So it’s either me driving fast, or me driving normal with the windows down on a nice day and listening to chill out lounge mixes or Heart’s “These Dreams”.

Welcome to the one topic that drives me nuts. God, how hard is it to figure out a four way stop? How about a parking lot? Don’t you drive fast and cut through the parking spaces at random? I think it’s turn key, toss common sense out the window.

I think part of it could be a sense of pushing things further and since nothing bad happened the last time they can go a little faster or run a yellow a little later and they assume it worked before so there is no reason it won’t keep working.

My mom had been driving for years without a license or insurance. When I found out I flipped out and she started getting a unusual amount of car problems that would prevent her from driving.. wink

I offered to pay for everything to get her squared away but it was always “I got away with it for two years so if I drive the same I can do it for another two.”

I think they just get complacent. They don’t take it seriously.

I had a friend who was the worst driver ever. However, she used to proudly say she’d never been in a wreck. She said it like, “That means I’ll never be in a wreck.” I used to say, “Yeah, and I’ve never died either.” She finally got in very easily avoided wreck when she was about 43.

I think part of the reason is because it’s fairly anonymous. You can be angry and let out your hostility and feel free to do what you want. You might not swear at the people at work when you’re frustrated, but in the car? That fucking asshole cut you off! You can just scream at him and flip him off and go in your merry way.

Also, a bunch of people do not know a lot of the road rules. My sister won’t be in a car when a particular friend is driving, because that friend is always angry at other drivers for not giving the right of way and other complaints and her girlfriend is the one who is wrong. It drives my sister crazy and she finds it very unsafe.

Then there are people who think they are great drivers, but wind up being reckess in the end, because they don’t take into account not everyone on the road has the capabilities of race car drivers. My husband instructs racers, he knows the capabilities of cars better than the average driver. If he drives on the road like he does on the track he runs the risk of all those people who don’t feel comfortable driving fast, who can’t predict his next move, who don’t have the reaction time a race car driver has, causing a crash.

An Allstate survey showed most people believe themselves to be excellent or good drivers. But we can’t all be above average, and that means half the people are wrong and over-estimate their ability.

In addition to many drivers believing themselves to be better drivers than they actually are, two other factors enter the picture.

First, there are those drivers who appear to believe that the traffic laws do not apply to them. How else do you explain the drivers who routinely run red lights and ignore stop signs? Or the legions of drivers who act as if speed limits are merely advisory, to be observed only when they aren’t busy (which they always are?)

Second is what is called inattentional blindness, or the tendency of the human brain to simply not register what it doesn’t expect to see. I suspect that some drivers nearing a traffic light expect to see a green light, so they “see” a green light even when the light is red. Perhaps this helps explain those drivers who get into trouble of one form or another during the winter. For some reason, they don’t expect to encounter hazardous driving conditions, so they aren’t mentally prepared to deal with ice, fog or whatever when they encounter it.

Nice answer @sahID .

It’s Spring, @SQUEEKY2. Tis the season of the birds and the bees. People are frisky and distracted by the rebirth of life.
Allergies are not a help.
Somehow I practically pulled out in front of a guy today (rural 2-lane) and I could tell he was disgusted. I would have been too. I wish I had a sign in my car that said ”Sorry!” so I could at least let them know it was inadvertent.

All accidents are “inadvertent” and caused by folks not paying attention.

^^Exactly @Dutchess_III ^^ Exactly!!