How do we tell if we are good drivers?

"Frank Grimes" (FrankGrimes)
10/03/2014 at 15:26 • Filed to: None

Do we wait until someone tells us? How few tickets or accidents? How fast we can turn a lap? If we drive manual and can heel toe? If we can do rockfords and burnouts without crashing? We can drive up into moving trucks without turning?

DISCUSSION (9)

Alfalfa > Frank Grimes
10/03/2014 at 15:28

Title got Kinja'd.

Edit: you fixed it!

HammerheadFistpunch > Frank Grimes
10/03/2014 at 15:30

step 1. Not care about the term

Step 2. Dont kill anyone with a car or bike

....

Step 10034. Some type of trophy room

Good public street drivers are safe drivers. The metric for being good on the track is easy, lap times and consistency

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Frank Grimes
10/03/2014 at 15:30

I self evaluate on what I do wrong a lot, if I pull out too close to someone or park a little wonky and such. When I stop criticising my driving I assume I'll be fairly competent.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Frank Grimes
10/03/2014 at 15:33

Never assume you are a good driver. When that happens, that's when you start screwing up.

Louros > Frank Grimes
10/03/2014 at 15:33

Obviously if you read Jalopnik or post on oppositelock you are a good driver.

Trevor Slattery, ACTOR > Frank Grimes
10/03/2014 at 15:36

I'm here for the Mazda 626 coupe!

Hermann > Frank Grimes
10/03/2014 at 15:51

I think it's kind of a balance between how much you drive, number of accidents, tickets and general skills (not necessarily racing skills).

My brother, within 1 year of car ownership rear ended a truck, broke 2 windshields and ruined a wheel bearing. He can put a decent lap down on FWD, though (but only FWD).

My mom, on the other hand, is an excellent driver. She can park a huge sedan and even a truck without a flinch, has never gotten a ticket. Was involved in 2 accidents (in both she was the victim).

She drives since she was 13 years old, this year was the first time she drove an automatic, has absolutely no clue how to heel and toe and never ruined a clutch. All lasted as long as they were supposed to.

And she drives an average of 100 miles a day. Reasonably fast, too.

My mom's an awesome driver.

And by god my brother is a horrible driver.

Lekker > Frank Grimes
10/03/2014 at 16:10

If your passengers stare out the window or close their eyes while you drive, you're a bad driver. Example: my roommate. Last time I was in a car with him driving, I honestly had to stop the impulse of asking him to stop and taking a cab. Cutting corners, stopping 10ft past the line on a stop light, etc. Ugh

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Frank Grimes
10/03/2014 at 16:30

A friend of mine thought he was a better driver than me because he had fewer tickets on his record than I did. I tried to counter that I was the better driver because I only had a couple of speeding tickets that I paid, whereas he had the cops coming to his door to discuss reports from other motorists about his anger and numerous instances of his retaliation towards his fellow motorists. Something tells me that if he did that shit in these days of dashcams he'd be taking the bus to work. He received a ton of tickets, but none were on his record since he would pay a lawyer to reduce the charges; I just paid the fines and learned my lesson (sort of).

I inherited my lead foot from my mother. About a decade ago she and I both received letters from the DMV regarding the quantities of violations we each had. I never understood speed limits until I stopped driving BMWs and MBs and got a domestic minivan. She went from a Vanagon to an E320, from 90 to 215 HP. She was getting tickets in the Vanagon, so it's not surprising she got a bunch in the MB. My folks now have an agreement that if they're both going somewhere together, dad does the driving.

She once asked me about the warning triangle that appeared in her instrument cluster whilst going around a cloverleaf, and I had to explain that she was oversteering in the bend and that this light was the stability control system keeping her out of the weeds. This didn't happen in rain or ice or snow, but on a sunny SoCal day.

I've been ticket-free for about a decade now. I talked my way out of one on the first day I picked up my Mazda as I was unaware that I was driving without my headlights on. I've always operated under the assumption that if the instruments were illuminated the lights are on, but I learned otherwise that day; now I just drive with the headlights on everywhere. I did get nabbed in a notorious speed trap for doing 40 in an artificially low 30 zone, but the judge reduced the ticket; as long as they got my cash they really didn't care what the violation was, and that's why I don't venture into that POS town any more. And I did get a warning when I gingerly passed what I though wasn't a cop.

I guess age and the desire to maximize fuel economy on my daily commute has mellowed me a bit, although I suspect that if I bought something German with a turbodiesel I'd be in trouble again.