I rate myself 4. I only learned to drive when I was 20 and I’m not as much at ease driving as some people I know.
6 years of driving and no accidents so far (knock on wood).
Once, I accidentally ran a red light thinking it was green and drove into traffic. (I still don’t know how that happened…)
A couple of times, I started changing lanes and I realized that there was a vehicle in my left blind spot . One of those times was a bike cop. I’m paranoid about changing lanes and I do it very slowly so nothing bad happened, I just went back to my lane both times. I adjusted my rearview mirrors after the second time.
I don’t always adhere to traffic laws. Sometimes I speed, sometimes I make illegal u-turns, Sometimes I accelerate to avoid a red light, sometimes I don’t make full stops at stop signs. I don’t consider any of these things relevant to my driving skills. In fact, I’ve never been even close to having an accident because of any of these. In general, I simply don’t take risks and keep a safe distance with the cars ahead of me.
I’ve had some near misses but most were due to distraction (I don’t use cellphones while driving) on my part and other than the example I cited above about driving into traffic, none of them would’ve been a serious accident. So far, I’ve always snapped back to full attention in time to hit to brakes (I have above average reflexes as proven by an old boxing pinball machine).
I rate myself as a 6. I sometimes become distracted while driving. I attended the Bob Bondurant driving school in 1992 and this helped greatly with the finer points of driving.
of Years Driving: 35.
of Tickets Received:3, 2 in the first 2 years of driving and my last one in 1979. I was nabbed by a small town cop the day said small town was incorporated. Part of the incorporation was lowering the speed limit of the new town’s main drag from 35 to 25.
of Accidents (at fault):2, both again in the first 2 years of driving.
of Accidents (non-fault):2, one in 1979 exactly 1 week after my last ticket (a lady drove across 5 lanes of traffic and ran into me) and I was rear ended 2 days before Thanksgiving last year.
of Years Driving: 17
of Tickets Received: 0 (well, one parking ticket, no moving violations)
of Accidents (at fault): 0
of Accidents (non-fault): 0
With that, though, I’d call myself an average driver - 4, perhaps 5. I get way too irritated with other drivers. Not road rage, but irritation. There have also been a number of times I’ve been incredibly lucky that I didn’t have an accident. Some would have been my fault, some would have been the other person, but only quick thinking/responses got me through - on one side or the other.[ul]
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You didn’t rate yourself though.
I’m a 6 most of the time, but I must admit (as I think all of us would) that I have my occasional 1 moments.
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(All pilots think they’re better drivers than non-pilots. 
)
When I drive I maintain situational awareness. I know where the corners of my vehicle are. I know where the other drivers are. If I’m driving a car with a standard transmission I select the appropriate gear for the conditions. I turn my head to check the blind spots, instead of just glancing in the mirrors. (And I strive to see rather than just look.) Years of riding motorcycles amongst people who are not paying attention to what they are doing have taught me to be ready for boners other people pull. I study the traffic and plan ahead. My flight instructor always shouted (be didn’t wear headsets back then) ‘Look outside of the airplane!’ Not only ‘look’, but see other traffic. That’s always stuck with me. ‘Look outside of the vehicle and see where everyone else is and what they’re doing!’
So I give myself the highest rating because I am an ‘active driver’ instead of a ‘Left Seat Passenger’.
calculating results now
of Years Driving = 37.58
of tickets = > 10 (lost count, but all were in the first 2 years)
of accidents = > 8 (lost count, but only one injury accident, and all were in the first 2 years)
of license suspensions = 1 (at about the end of the first 2 years)
of years before I figured out how to drive safely = +/- 2
of incidents in the last 35 years = 1 (speeding ticket, 18 years ago, primarily due to a hardware malfunction).*
Nowadays, like A. R. Cane I am a Professional Driver.
And, as A. R. Cane alluded to, the best indicator in our profession is not any of the above categories - we rely on one simple measuring stick, so here is mine (as of the time I shut the rig down friday night):
Number of Incident Free Miles** = 2,137,921
Self rated at 5.5
Personally, I don’t think a ‘7’ is possible (based solely on my very unscientific observations). I have seen some sixes out there, and I continue to emulate them. I believe there is always lots of room for improvement.
Please drive safely out there. Remember - the life you save might be mine.
Lucy
*(loose nut behind the wheel - momentary regression to old ways due to waaayyyyy too much horse power available under my right foot).
**I don’t think any of us bothers tracking mileage in our personal vehicles, so this total is Log Book Miles and does not include mileage in personal or light vehicles. This figure is a verifiable number. Damn few of us don’t have log books going back to the beginning of our careers as Professional Drivers, and we feel it is a good indicator of overall performance.
Incident Free is defined as NO warnings, citations, or accidents of any kind (whether driving professionally on the job or in our personal vehicle) In addition, there can be no profession related Non-moving Violations (such as log book violations), or Out-Of-Service Violations (including equipment violations such as worn out brake shoes). Any Incident and you go back to zero and start counting again.
Also, this is an “Point of Honor” kind of thing - no government agency that I’m aware of tracks such trivial stuff. (But my insurance company does … just got another 15% reduction in premiums … wife = :D)
I’m a 7.
I rate myself as about a 7.5. I keep pretty much to the speed everyone else is driving (limit or no), let others merge in front of me. If someone lets me merge, I acknowledge w/a wave (using all my fingers).
My 20-yr-old tells me I drive like a grandma. I remind her I am one.
OK. I’ll give myself a 6. Mostly because of my recent speeding tickets. Otherwise it would be a clear 7. My Wife was really surprised that I got them. Recent health problems with my family has required me to be on the road and I was not paying enough attention to my speed. Though I was (IMHO) not driving dangerous in any way (no other cars on the road, 70mph in a 55 zone).
And let me explain a little more. I drive over the continental divide twice a day. 11,500 feet. I go into 4x every day for six months out of the year. Driving on snow covered icy roads for years teaches you the capabilities of rubber on road.
Barry is right. If people weren’t so conceited about being great drivers they wouldn’t be on the phone, turning their head away from the road to engage in conversation, racing around people (poorly) like it’s some kind of competition or consistently and vainly breaking the simplest rules of the road.
That said, I do my best not to do any of these things because I am not a perfect driver. I make mistakes and I do stupid things on occasion, but I take my safety and my passenger’s safety seriously. I would rate myself a 5 but there are a hell of a lot of seriously awful people out there.
I don’t know why cops write tickets for speeding so often when there are so many illegal and just plain stupid ideas put into play daily.
I’d say 2. I’d rate my skill as 1, but I never use a cell phone and I almost always keep my speed below the limit, which I think brings my rating up to 2.
of years driving - 16
of accidents my fault - 1
of accidents not my fault - 1
of tickects - 0
28 # of Years Driving
2 # of Tickets Received:
0 # of Accidents (at fault):
2# of Accidents (non-fault):
So,
I’m pretty good. Rank me at 6.
Note–one of my tickets was for an expired license plate.
They didn’t notify me.
At 29 replies, here is how things stand:
86% think they are average or better.
79% think they are above average and 14% think they are below average.
61% think they are at least a 6 out of 7.
4% think they are at most a 2 out of 7.
Note: I’ve modified the score of anyone who said 6 but still mentionned the score 7 in relation to themselves a 7/7 . I think they were just being modest.
23 years driving history.
0 tickets
0 at fault accidents
2 not at fault accidents (both times rear ended)
Commercial drivers license for past 11 years with 2 years tractor trailer highway experience and another 5 years hauling fuel tankers at airport. And a couple of summers of driving double decker tour buses part time.
The facts say I’m a pretty safe vehicle operator.
I want to be modest, but honestly if you want your precious cargo to get somewhere safely, you could do a lot worse than to send it in my vehicle.
6.5
Years driving: 28
Tickets: 3, only one was a moving violation, the other 2 were for expired plates and registration.
At fault accidents: 0
Not-at-fault: 2, one while sitting in a line of cars at a dead stop, one hit from the side by a car that went through a stop sign.
I rate myself a 7, dammit!
I’ll give myself a 4 even though I think like everyone else that I’m a better driver than average. I’m certainly better than most drivers in my age group (early 20s). I’ve made a few mistakes before that could have resulted in a non-serious accidents but I don’t talk on cellphones while driving or speed that badly. I routinely drive 5 miles over the limit but everyone does that here.