Everyone knows at least one “bad” driver, most of us know several. For example, drivers that the hug the center line a bit too closely or those that do not leave enough distance between their vehicle and the car in the front of them. These are the types of driving behaviors that cause passengers to double-check that their seatbelt is fastened and to grab ahold of that small plastic handle on the roof. While these are not great driving behaviors by any stretch of the imagination, most of us tend to think that we are pretty good drivers. However, obviously, we all cannot be good drivers, because clearly bad drivers do exist. In fact, a recent report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that one group of drivers stood out from the rest. If you think it is those newest of the new drivers that are the worst, you would be wrong. The most dangerous group was found to b the young millennials.
Millennials, which were defined by the report as drivers between the ages of 19 and 24, were found to be the worst behaved drivers. The study focused on drivers who engaged in risky behaviors or those that led to an increased crash risk. Drivers, across all age groups, were asked to respond to whether they engaged in any of the following risky behaviors: speeding, texting while driving and running a red light. Over 88 percent of millennials admitted to engaging in at least one of the three risky behaviors in the last 30 day—more than any other age group.
The scariest part of the study was the admission by some millennial drivers the believed their risky driving behaviors were acceptable. The following examples highlight some of the dangerous behaviors of this age group:
- Almost 12 percent of millennials thought there was nothing wrong with driving 10 mph over the posted speed limit in a school zone. This attitude toward school safety was more the double that of other age groups.
- Close to 50 percent of millennials admitted to running a red light that could have safely stopped for compared to only 36 percent of all drivers.
- Millennials were more than 1.5 times more likely than all other drivers to have read an email or text message while driving. This age group was also almost twice as likely to have sent an email or text while driving compared to all other drivers.
One of the most frustrating parts of the study was the fact that while the overwhelming majority of the drivers in the study admitted that risky behaviors were unacceptable, a good percentage of those same drivers also admitted to engaging in these same risky behaviors. So it seems that while most of us know that engaging in dangerous behaviors is bad—it is not enough for us to stop committing these bad acts.
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