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One in Five Americans Unfit to Drive

Last week, a study conducted in the UK pointed to the fact that, if experienced drivers were asked to take the driver's exam once more, most of them would fail miserably. Although the situation in the US is not exactly the same, the new 2011 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test showed some worrying figures.

According to the report, one in five Americans would not pass the exam and, what's more, they fail to meet the basic requirements to get a driver's license altogether. Add the numbers, and you have potentially 37 million dangerous drivers trekking the States of the Union.

As the report has shown, most of those unfit drivers can be found in the Northeastern part of the country, where the average score of the drivers tested was of 74.9 percent. At the opposite pole, drivers from the Midwest region seem to have a better idea about what their doing: 77.5 percent.

And now comes the real exciting part: in the UK, where drivers were asked 10 questions, the authors of the study found that the more experienced the driver is, the worse he gets at answering the questions right.

That's not the case in the US, where it would appear that old age does indeed come with some wisdom attached. Here, older drivers were right on the money on the 20 questions they had to answer in 80.3 percent of the cases.

GMAC tested for 2011 5,130 licensed drivers ages 16-65, from 50 states and the District of Columbia. They were asked questions taken right out from state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) exams.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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