Survey: Many Bay State drivers do not know basic rules of the road

(Globe file photo/2002)

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

News flash: Many Massachusetts drivers do not know the most basic rules of the road.

Bigger news flash: Drivers in New York and New Jersey know even less about how to drive.

That's according to a 50-state survey by GMAC Insurance that found that 16.4 percent of drivers on the road -- roughly 33 million people -- would fail a written drivers test. The poll, which questioned 5,524 licensed drivers, is a marketing tool used by GMAC, the St. Louis-based insurance company.

Drivers across the nation had particular difficulty when asked what to do when approaching a steady yellow traffic light. (Eighty-four percent did not know they were supposed to stop unless it is unsafe to do so because the light is about to turn red.) Seventy-three percent of drivers could not properly identify a safe distance between cars. (Massachusetts urges drivers to use the two-second rule, counting "one one-thousand, two one-thousand" to calculate the distance between vehicles.)

The average score on the 20-question survey by Massachusetts drivers was 75 percent, which was the fourth worst in the country. New York drivers' average score was 74 percent; Washington D.C. 72.9 percent; New Jersey 69.9 percent. Kansas topped the list with an average score of 84 percent.

There is one caveat: Two of the four worst scores on the survey were in places where GMAC Insurance is not available: New Jersey and Massachusetts.

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