WHAT KIND OF DRIVER ARE YOU?

[ancient-one]

I am a 7 and the first suggested 8. In 81 years of driving I have been involved in 3 accidents and I was at fault in none. I allow for my slower reaction time, allow plenty of room between my car and the one ahead, no longer drive the in town express ways and obey the speed limit. I try to know what is going on down the road a distance in front of me. I don't weave in and out of traffic or come to a screeching halt six inches from your back bumper.
My grandson gives me a check ride every couple of months and I will turn over my car keys when I get a thumbs down.
When you pass a wreck take a quick glance and you won't see too many grey beard drivers standing there. I don't run your insurance rates up, look elsewhere. Also, when you see a car stopped by the police for a traffic violation it won't usually be an old geezer.
Yes, some old people should not be driving but there is a group of younger ones that should never be allowed a set of car keys.

 

[keith44spl]

Now n days, I'm jest purty laid back...

When I was working, it was fast & furious

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[RobertJ.]

There wasn't a "courteous" category. For years I've lived by, "If you sow courtesy, you will reap courtesy. It's proven to be true time and time again. I've tried teaching it to my friends, but to no avail.

Put me down for cautious and courteous.

 

[Jack Flash]

I would like to propose another category:
#8 The Kamikaze
No regard whatsoever for their own safety or anyone else's.
Will barrel around you on a blind curve.
Will pass on the right, even on the shoulder if need be to get around you when you are already going 10 mph above the speed limit.
Will cut across 4 lanes of heavy traffic on the freeway to exit.
Will blast through an intersection when the light has clearly gone from amber to red plus several seconds. Stop signs do not exist for them.
Usually seen with their vehicle inverted in the median on the first icy day of the winter driving season.

 

[BB57]

1 - PSYCHOTIC: Weave in and out of traffic and just can't stand to be behind another vehicle, even if they are traveling at the same speed as you.

2 - TIMID: Can't pull out in front of another vehicle to merge with traffic even though approaching cars are at least a block away.

3 - REACTIONARY: Your focus is totally on the vehicle in front of you and react only to what that driver is doing.

4 - COMATOSE: Don't care what traffic is doing around you; everyone else has to cater to your driving whims.

5 - BULLY: Tailgate, cut people off, crowd lanes, speed up-slow down just out of spite or general inattentiveness.

6 - TACTICAL/AGGRESSIVE: You have a goal and nothing is going to stop you from achieving arrival at your destination at the fastest possible speed.

7 - STRATEGIC: You scan traffic as far ahead as possible and plan your driving moves accordingingly.

I will start and proclaim that I am a STRATEGIC driver, which confuses and sometimes upsets the lady in my life, as she is a combo of TIMID/REACTIONARY, which, in turn, drives me nuts sometimes, although I'm more than happy to let her drive in the city (I pretty much just close my eyes and try to breathe deeply.).

What say you all?

I used to have to commute to DC from NC for a couple duty days each pay period. Sometimes that meant having to drive I-95.

Yesterday we went to Williamsburg and drove back in the evening going south. Traffic was unusually bad for a long stretch and since my wife was driving I had the luxury of just observing.

It confirmed that the type you missed, and the major cause of problems and accidents is the person with poor lane discipline, which thinks they have a God given right to the left lane.

Worse, is the person who thinks they deserve to stay in the left lane *and* feel they have the moral authority to enforce the speed limit by doing it.

Once we’d manage to slowly work our way up through literally miles of backed up and under highway speed traffic it became apparent that the miles of traffic delay was the work of a handful of lane hogs who saw no need to stay to the right except when passing, and saw no need to let faster traffic pass.

In addition to the delay we also saw the results of a multiple car accident that commonly results. You can blame the accident on people following too closely or cutting in an out of the lanes, and triggering excessive braking responses - but the root cause is poor lane discipline.

Once we got passed that mess (with no major exits involved) it was obvious that traffic on I-95 was actually quite light, except for that lane hogs induced plug. That pretty well validated my commuting experiences over a 12 year period of time.