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Surveying the Best and Worst Drivers in America This article was originally published by the EmpireCovers Blog and is shared with permission
D
riving is a part of everyday life for many Americans. As of 2018, there were over 225 million licensed drivers in the United States, meaning over two-thirds of the country are legally allowed to get behind the wheel and drive. Of course, just being licensed to drive doesn’t actually make someone a good driver. Anyone who drives regularly has experienced bad drivers while on the road, with the worst offenders often becoming long-term reminders of what not to do while operating a vehicle. Recognizing that driving is a skill, and some people are better at it than others, the team
at Empire Covers wanted to explore how driving ability and driving records correlate to the kinds of cars people own and the states where they learned to drive. To do this, we conducted a survey of over 2,600 licensed drivers from around the country, anonymously asking them to tell us what kind of car they drive, where they are from, how many points have been taken off their licenses, their accident and ticket history, and more. Once we evaluated the results, we found some very interesting trends and insights, which we turned into a series of graphics and maps. Read on to see all that data!
THE AVERAGE AMERICAN DRIVER BASED ON A SURVEY OF 2,600+ U.S. DRIVERS Average Number Of Points Taken
Percent Chance They Have Had
Off Their License: 2.51
Their License Revoked Or
Average Number Of Times Pulled
Suspended In The Past: 22.23%
Over (For Any Reason): 2.85
How They Rate Themselves As A
Average Number Of Tickets
Driver (1-10 Scale): 7.90
Received: 2.33 Percent Chance They Have Gotten Into An Accident While Driving: 57.17%
n. 6.
Percent Chance That They Were In An Accident Where They Were At Fault: 22.61%
As a baseline to help contextualize the rest of the data, we looked at the total survey responses to find what the average driving record looks like. We found the average driver has been pulled over just under three times and received 2.33 tickets from those encounters, resulting in an average of 2.51 points taken off of their license. We February 2021
T e x a s
D e a l e r
also found that over 57% of drivers have gotten into an accident before, while 22% of drivers have been at fault for an accident in the past. A similar 22% have had their license suspended or revoked before. Finally, the average driver gives themselves a score of 7.90 out of 10 in terms of how they perceive their driving ability. 37
