Which Driver Age Is The Worst?

Every driver thinks he or she is the best auto navigator ever created.  I know I have my limitations, but I also look down on those "idiots" I encounter every day on the road. And I am tired of hearing the young ones declare oldies like me are the worst drivers of al. Alas! New data shows that oldies and the beginning teen driver is not the worst. Now there's evidence that millennials may be the most reckless people behind the wheel. I suspected it. According to a report released Wednesday by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, younger millennials, those hopelessly tech addicted people from age 19 to 24, are more likely than teens or drivers in any other age group to create havoc on the highway.

According to AAA (American Automobile Association) The are most guilty of the following:  exceeding the speed limit by 10 to 15 miles per hour, running a red light when they could have stopped., reading or send a text message while driving, and are high on marijuana while operating a car "Some of the drivers ages 19 to 24 believe that their dangerous driving behavior is acceptable," said David Yang, the AAA foundation's executive director. I suspect they either just don't care or are not aware of the threat they cause.

The number of people killed in crashes in 2015 - 35,092 - was a 7.2 percent increase over 2014, and crashes remain the leading cause of death among teen drivers. But the AAA study found that 88 percent of drivers 19 to 24 admitted that within the past 30 days they had sped, run a red light or texted while driving. Drivers in two age groups above theirs ranked behind that group in admitting to one of the three infractions, while 16- to 18-year-olds trailed those three groups, with 69 percent of them saying they had done so. All ages do that to a lesser extent. And we can't improve millennial driving by taking the one step that is most certain to do-taking away those goofy cell phones or installing a block on calls inside a car. Sigh...my daughter used to say I drove like "a grandma". Maybe that's not such a bad concept.

Comparing millennials with all other age groups, the AAA study found that they were:
- 1.6 times as likely to read a text message or email while driving.
- Nearly twice as likely to have typed and sent a text or email.
- 1.4 times as likely to have driven 10 mph above the speed limit in a neighborhood.
- More than twice as likely to speed in a school zone.
- Nearly half drove through a red light, compared with 36 percent of all drivers.
- Were more likely to admit to regularly or fairly often smoking pot within an hour of driving, with nearly 7 percent saying they do so.

Maybe I should get rid of my car  and just start taking the bus everywhere...