GMAC Test

[DLyon]

Your score was: 100%

[Ed62]

I only got 90%. Still better than average.

Ed

[Stytooner]

I got 100% as well, but that question was misleading or at the very least, ill worded. The way I interpret yielding is "Do my actions make the other driver do anything he wouldn't have done on his own?" In other words, does he or she feel the need to hit the brakes or swerve if I turn? I drive like I like to see other people drive. Considerate and courtious. If you feel the need to pull out in lots of traffic, do so with the gas peddle under your foot. Don't just poke along and provoke effected drivers to do something drastic to avoid you or give a single fingered wave.

[Black wallnut]

Surprise! 100% it did not even take me long and I did not hesitate on any of the questions!

Larry I think what you needed to keep in mind that as already suggested you should have considered the source of the test and then chosen the best answer. In many states the "rules of the rode" are not codified and that is probabaly for the best. It is up to each driver to drive in a manner that is reasonable, prudent, and with caution!

The point the insurance company is taking is what if, and if is for children, you turned left with a car, under normal conditions had plenty of time and then your car stalled at the same time that the other vehicle's driver was not paying attention. You would be at fault because you were turning across his lane. The mitigating factors of the other driver's inattentiveness may help with a ticket but in civil court you and your insurance company would more likely than not be held accountable. Which in civil cases is the standard of proof needed.

I base my answers on two things. First I have in excess of 1,000,000 miles driving exp. Practice does make perfect IMHO. Second I did spend a few years in Law Enforcement as a Reserve Police Officier. I also have taken several accredited defensive driving courses and one of the first things they teach in those is that the right of way is not always set in stone. I actually answered a question on right of way in one of those classes and the instructor said "since you are a former LEO you are right but, if anyone else would have said the same answerthey would have been wrong." What the instructor was trying to get across is that right of way is not always leagally defined and all motorists acting in a "reasonable, prudent and cautious" manner will yeild the right of way. If you yeild even if you have the "right" of way you will not be involved in an accident, or at least not one in which you will be found at fault.

[LarryG]

Mark, I'll ask you the same question I asked cabman: if you're making a left turn across a traffic lane, and can see an oncoming vehicle, NO MATTER HOW FAR AWAY IT IS, do you sit and wait for him to pass?

No one, least of all me, is disputing that it's always safer to err on the side of caution when in doubt. But the way this question is worded is absurd. Moreover, it's just flat wrong. The law does not require a driver to wait for all oncoming vehicles to pass no matter how far away they are. If everyone did that, we'd have gridlock. One can argue that such behavior is prudent and cautious, but it's certainly not reasonable.

(It's probably not legal, either, as I'm pretty sure most if not all states have laws requiring a driver to operate his vehicle in a way that will not unduly inhibit the normal flow of traffic.)

[Black wallnut]

Short answer no, in fact heck no!
Long answer...it really depends on what vehicle I am driving, the road conditions at the time, weather or not it is a controlled intersection, the speed limit, my vehicle's condition, the make, model, and year of the oncomming vehicle, its' percieved spped plus the posted speed limit ( if you guess wrong and he is speeding you are still at fault, period!) even the phase of the moon plays into this.

The bottom line is you were IMHO reading too much into the question and then you picked what you thought was the right answer. Any test is going to have flaws in it and "test Wiseness' tells us to always pick the best answer given the tester and what they may be looking for. Many times there is more than one correct answer and sometimes all of the answers can be incorrect depending on variables and point of view.

I am not saying that I am right and you are wrong in what reality is but from the test authors perspective you are wrong.

[Crash2510]

I got 100% and I have only been driving for a couple of years.
I just gave the answers I think an insurance co would want.

[mschrank]

I got 95%, missing the same question as Larry, and agree with him 100%.

I've had to take a couple written drivers tests in my life, and always missed one or two questions just like this. There's the "right" answer, then there's the "real world" answer.

If you waited for all cars in sight to pass, you'd have a line of irate drivers behind honking their horns and maybe loading their guns

[LarryG]

I am not saying that I am right and you are wrong in what reality is but from the test authors perspective you are wrong.

First, I don't answer a test question with the thought in mind of telling the tester what he wants to hear. I answer as truthfully and as accurately as I can, and if I know the material better than the tester, yet end up getting a question "wrong," so be it.

Second, I don't see how I'm wrong in this case, as the test questions were supposedly taken from various states' written driving tests. Since those are designed to test a candidate driver's knowledge of traffic laws and his rights and responsibilities as an operator, I cannot understand how anyone would think me wrong in insisting the correct answer is B, not C.

(And at this point, I think we'll have to agree to disagree ...)

[jziegler]

The Left turn questions is a difficult one. And it can and does cause problems. The only accident that I've been in when driving was when some ditzy lady in an SUV made a left turn right into my front fender. It was going through a light, we both had a green, she thought that I was turning (she says), even though I was going straight through to get to a jughandle. I feel she might have hit me even had I been turning. Of course, being a busy intersection, waiting till all traffic is gone is impossible, although there was a turning arrow in part of the cycle.

From an insurance point of view, I can see their answer. Do I follow it? No way, I know plenty of places that you would literally wait forever that way. It does come back to the experience and knowing how much time you need to get out of the way, and being able to properly follow what other drivers are doing. That's the real hard part.

Jim

By the way, I got 95%. The crosswalk question tripped me up, it was poorly worded.

[gsmittle]

100%!!! Guess they don't know about all those speeding tickets in my youth...

g.

[Black wallnut]

A couple of interesting observations:

1. two years in a row Oregon was ranked #1 and Washington was ranked #2 for test scores for this test!
2. Posters to this forum scored far better than most.
3. Oregon driver's or test takers got an average of 90.%

My guess is our average for members of this board is closer to 98%.

Oh and by the way if you follow the links on the test website they list failing to yield the right of way while turning left as the number 3 mistake leading to a crash!

[Perfidiajoe]

95%, But I disagree W/ #3, I believe you should use highbeams as little as possible

[Warren]

Larry has come pretty close to the UTC (Uniform Traffic Code) which most jurisdictions use as the platform for their traffic codes. You are only required to yield to traffic which is legally operated on the roadway. Therefore, if you misjudged because the other vehicle is being operated above the speed limit you should not be at fault. I say should, because this involves the judgement of the investigating officer, the court and possibly a jury, as well as the insurance investigator and insurance company.

You will, most likely, be found with major injuries while the offending driver will suffer no injuries and be intoxicated by either alcohol or youth. Possibly both!

[JSCOOK]

Hmmm ... your American Driving symbols seem to be slightly different ... got nailed on the Right Lane Ending ... ours shows a dashed line representing 2 lanes with the right ending, so I guessed narrowing road (it got both me and the wife) ... and the headlights got me too as I always was told to move over to the right of your lane.

This is ours for right lane ending:


This is ours for lane narrowing:


Still got 80%