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Post by the light works on Jan 24, 2020 14:54:18 GMT
this probably counts as an untestable myth. mainly because you'll get the "you did it wrong because you didn't get the results I wanted" and the "but that doesn't pertain to me" reactions.
but it is a common meme that the average person believes they are an above average driver. so more as an exercise than as a myth proposal, how would we go about objectively testing that? what parameters even make a driver average or above average? my first thought is that rules of the road provide a baseline of what is an acceptable driver - can we measure how people exceed that baseline? that would base on perception, reaction time, and consistency. are there other parameters we would consider? we also have to look at the question of whether an above average driver may safely ignore some rules of the road, or whether an above average driver doesn't violate the rules of the road.
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Post by wvengineer on Jan 24, 2020 17:18:39 GMT
How do you work weather into it?
On one hand you could test people's ability to handle heavy rain, snow, and ice, but if it is not a common feature where the live, is it a fair test? Could someone who lives in the desert be expected to know how to drive in a torrential down poor? That being said, I still would not trust someone from southern California or Hawaii on my local roads this time of year.
I still consider the winter driving episode Mythbuster's Jump-the-Shark moment
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Post by the light works on Jan 25, 2020 0:39:02 GMT
How do you work weather into it? On one hand you could test people's ability to handle heavy rain, snow, and ice, but if it is not a common feature where the live, is it a fair test? Could someone who lives in the desert be expected to know how to drive in a torrential down poor? That being said, I still would not trust someone from southern California or Hawaii on my local roads this time of year. I still consider the winter driving episode Mythbuster's Jump-the-Shark moment maybe not jump the shark, but definitely, WTF were you thinking? assuming you were using a simulator, you could adjust the traction without putting anyone at risk. or you could adjust the weather to the local "bad" the next question being, how does the average driver handle that weather? if the average californian is hopeless in snow, then being able to move at all becomes above average. |
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Post by srmarti on Jan 25, 2020 7:43:06 GMT
I might consider driving skill and compliance to the rules separate issues. Then there's good judgement and safety. What's considered average? Is the person that can stay in their own lane going 10-15 mph over the posted speed limit a "better" driver than the driver realizing that things beyond his control can happen (deer, falling tree, nearby driver does something stupid, etc.) and maintains the posted limit?
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Post by the light works on Jan 25, 2020 13:45:21 GMT
I might consider driving skill and compliance to the rules separate issues. Then there's good judgement and safety. What's considered average? Is the person that can stay in their own lane going 10-15 mph over the posted speed limit a "better" driver than the driver realizing that things beyond his control can happen (deer, falling tree, nearby driver does something stupid, etc.) and maintains the posted limit? yeah, that's kind of the challenge with quantifying "better" part of it would be knowing when to make which choice. |
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