Better Than Average Drivers

Ask a group of drivers whether they consider themselves to be better than average, and you are likely to see a lot of hands go up. Some of them may actually be right. The more interesting question is how we know.

Most of us have no objective way to compare our driving skills, knowledge and judgment with those of other drivers. We judge ourselves from inside the vehicle, while we judge other drivers by watching what they do.

Why Do We Think We're Better Than Average?

There is a well-known tendency for people to view their own abilities and prospects more favourably than the available evidence might justify. In driving, that can lead us to believe that we are less likely than other drivers to make mistakes, be involved in a collision or be caught doing something unsafe.

This tendency is not unique to driving. Psychologist Tali Sharot explains the optimism bias and how it affects the way we assess risk in this TED Talk.

It can also affect how we respond to risk. We may recognize that speeding, distracted driving or following too closely is dangerous when someone else does it, while convincing ourselves that our own circumstances are different.

There is another reason for this perception. We see our own intentions, but we see other drivers' actions.

When I make a mistake, I know why I made it. Perhaps I was distracted for a moment, in a hurry or simply didn't notice something. When another driver makes the same mistake in front of me, all I see is the mistake. It is easy to give ourselves an explanation that we would not extend to someone else.

Experience Doesn't Guarantee Improvement

It is tempting to think that years of driving automatically make us better drivers. Experience certainly gives us more opportunities to learn, but experience alone does not guarantee that we have learned from those opportunities.

We can also become very good at repeating the same habits. If we learned something incorrectly, developed a poor habit or simply forgot part of what we were taught, doing it the same way for another twenty years does not make it correct.

Driving also changes. Traffic patterns, road designs, vehicle technology, traffic controls and the rules themselves evolve. Something that was unfamiliar when we first learned to drive may now be an ordinary part of the driving environment.

What Do We Actually Know?

One of the more interesting tests of our driving ability is our knowledge of the rules. Many experienced drivers are confident that they know the rules of the road, yet cannot remember the last time they actually studied them.

That can be a problem because confidence is not proof of knowledge. A driver can have decades of experience and still misunderstand a traffic control, forget a rule or rely on something they were told years ago that was never correct in the first place.

I have written before about what we think we know. Sometimes the most useful thing we can do is recognize that we may not know as much as we think we do.

Good Driving Is More Than a Clean Record

A collision-free driving record is certainly something to be proud of, but it does not tell us everything about our driving.

We can avoid tickets and collisions while still having poor habits. We might follow too closely, fail to shoulder check consistently, misunderstand a traffic rule, become impatient in congestion or simply fail to notice hazards early enough.

That is why defining a "good" or "bad" driver is not as simple as counting tickets or collisions. Driving involves knowledge, observation, judgment, vehicle control and attitude. We can be strong in some areas and have room for improvement in others.

My earlier article How Do We Define a Bad Driver? explores some of these questions in more detail.

So, Are You Better Than Average?

Maybe you are. But the more useful question is: What have you done lately to become a better driver?

Read the current driving guide. Refresh your knowledge of the rules. Take a driver improvement course. Learn how a new vehicle system works before relying on it. Pay attention to situations that make you uncomfortable and consider what you could have done differently.

You don't have to wait for a traffic ticket, a collision or a close call to discover that there is something you could improve.

After all, the goal isn't really to be better than the driver beside you. The goal is to be better than the driver you were yesterday.

Learn More

• Can an Experienced Driver Learn New Tricks?
• Planning to Become a Better Driver
• How to Choose a Driving School