How good a driver are you?

On a scale of 1 – 10 (1= poor, 10 = excellent) where would you rate yourself as a driver? Be honest, have you just scored yourself as an 8 or 9?

If you scored either a 1 or 10 then that’s slightly worrying! You are either genuinely a terrible driver or, worse still, you are deluded about your ability.

So, I guess over 95% of you have scored yourself as 8 or 9 which means you are well above the average driver. I’m not a statistician but even I know 95% of the drivers can’t be above average, surely most people should have scored a 5.

But how do you know how good you are? Unless you have either done an online driver assessment or have completed a Defensive Driving course or similar Advanced course, the only way to judge your own ability is to compare yourself to other drivers by watching how they drive.

The problem with this is that you only tend to notice the really bad drivers who do things wrong. The really good drivers are quite ‘invisible’ as they never do anything that really stands out.

How often do you notice the driver who doesn’t brake harshly, is always at the correct speed for the situation and is able to maintain space so that nothing is rushed? The answer is very rarely, but you always notice the driver who brakes hard and then accelerates to the next situation or the one that cuts you up/pulls out in front of you.

By comparing yourself to the idiots and bad drivers it is understandable that you ‘over judge’ your own ability.