Community poll forum: What is the biggest threat to safe driving?

Reasons are tailgating,speeding,impatience,and selfishness

I know I forgot....sorry Rebecca...
Rebecca was a cousin of mine who developed a crush on me when she was very young and told everyone we were going to be married.
When she was seventeen, a drunk front-ended her life away at a high speed going the wrong way on a highway ramp.
Another one nearly clocked one of my kids...'just' breaking his arm.
As an EMT....I triaged the drunks to the bottom of the list.
No mercy to DUI's. Get 'em off the road. HURT them.

when people are driving and talking they automatically slow down in the fast lane,and don't hear what is going on around them due to the fact they are concentrating on the conversation,pull over and make your phone call unless it is an emergency-it may save someones life and that life could be yours.

As the pendulum swings from fuel efficiency to over- powered tanks and highway-legal race-cars the obvious occurs (1)a fuel shortage (2)untrained operation of "extreme" automobiles and "trucks" endangering normal drivers. (3)No realistic regulation of uniform bumper height or supports thus inflating the cost of any accident (who sells the replacement parts?) (4) Higher insurance premiums.(5)GULLIBLE CONSUMERS (No normal car is worth 30-60K) and so hooked on technology they drive while switching CD's, tuning radios, talking on the cell phone, reading their GPS and in the case of CNN reporters, looking at the camera instead of the road. And buying everything imported!

I can't believe you left drunk driving off the list. Alcohol is involved in over half of all fatal accidents.

They think their saiving time by Doing their Hair,eyes, makeup in the rear view mirror. Time saved....None....Danger....to others and themselves, Severe

All the other "reasons" listed in the survey just add up to bad driving. But I truly believe that aggressive EGOs behind the steering wheel make our highways dangerous beyond reason. This can be expressed by excessive speed for traffic conditions, weaving in and out to pass slower vehicles, and of foremost importance, tailgating. When traffic is bunched up on the roads, many drivers become frustrated at the consequent slowdown and express this by crowding up on the vehicles in front. This is also true when there are many vehicles on the road but traveling at comparatively high speed. At 60 to 75 MPH it is not uncommon to see large trucks as well as passenger vehicles crowding dangerously close to other vehicles. Combined with the tendency to weave in and out to pass, and you have a recipe for disaster. In my earliest driver training classes we were advised to leave at least one car length per 10 MPH of speed between vehicles. I challenge anyone out there to counter my claim that this is NOT common practice on our highways today.

Driving is easy. Doing it safely is another matter. Too many don't take the time to learn the rules of the road, pay attention to their driving, learn to drive according to conditions and learn to drive defensively. There is a lot to learn,but your safety and the safety of others depends on it.

Following your same lines of thought here. Now this is typical of how things are today.
Yesterday morning local news reports that a young man has died from driving his car into a parked backhoe near a construction site. All involved are trying to find the fault here and point the finger at the construction site. Saying that they didn't have the markers set out right or something like that.
I'm watching in amazement, going "DUH!" He's driving, the backhoe is sitting still, no traffic, he drove right into it and died. Now I ask you, who would you blame here? I figured he was driving along and said to himself, " Oh look, they didn't place the cones out properly, I think I'll just crash into the damn thing, that'll show 'em." What other moronic reason could there be for NOT seeing a huge peice of equipment in front of you? Oh, I know, I forgot where the brakes were at.
Mark my words here, there will be a lawsuit over what this idiot did to himself. Gotta blame someone ya know.

There is no standard national traffic ordinance; each State provides its own and, within those, laws are so ambiguous as to allow for individual interpretation. Take a simple example, "oncoming traffic." If you were to ask for a specific definition of "oncoming traffic" you would get dozens of variations.

Add to this ambiguity the fact that most traffic ordinances were enacted before super-highways (freeways) were built, and the fact that generations of new drivers have emerged since then, and you have a recipe for utter confusion. Another example, what lane do you drive in -- that is, cruise in? Some say left while most laws say right. Both have reasonable arguments.

As to other answers to this question (options provided), they all play a part but, in my opinion, until we establish a uniform and difinitive base of traffic laws we will suffer tragic confusion.

I believe that it is nav system because it takes longer to punch in the address which leaves a longer time from looking at the road.

The Biggest threat to safe driving is caused by: poor driving skills and distractions.

Poor driving skills fall into two general categories: a.) Never had them; b.) Had them once, but don't have them anymore.

Distractions can be anything in the driving environment which takes the drivers attention from focusing on the job at hand (driving). The more complex the nature of the distraction; such as: cellphones, children acting up, eating, etc. the more likely there will be negative consequences. Combine distractions of any sort with either a. or b. above and we have disaster.

Road rage is what the guy in the other car experiences watching the all American Socker Mom driving the Plymouth Caravan, yelling at the kids in the back seat, while she's talking to the babysitter, holding the Nokia in her left hand, going 10 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone attempting to make a right turn from the far left hand lane without signaling, and when you beep your horn, she launches you the bird so expertly with what seems to be an extra appendage, she makes you feel as if you screwed up.

Just another day driving in New Jersey.

They did away with drivers ed in most of the schools in Missouri to cut cost.

At least three times a day I have a close call with someone talking on their phone. If I were not aware, those would be auto accidents.

They also tie up traffic and irritate other drivers when they don't move when the stop light turns green, which, of course, is condusive to accidents which those drivers are not aware of.

It seems that most people, not all, simply are unable to concentrate on driving while talking on the phone. They drive too slow, slow to move from red light, can't stay in their lane, miss their turns and slam on the brakes, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.