Europe's dummest car drivers!

[Tempest 0]

This exciting title was to be found on this month's issue of my ADAC (German AA) ckub mag), which popped through my letter box this morning.

 

The ADAC has initiated a bit of research whereby approx. 2800 car drivers from Germany, France, UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Croatia, Norway, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, Slowenia, and Spain were asked 14 questions (see below), and the drivers had to do some practical things (like identify the hazard light switch etc. :lol:), and also state what annoyed them most on the roads (not indicating when overtaking, for example, ranked highest), and judge their own driving skills.

 

Well apart from the questionable set of questions (like, how the heck am I supposed to know the answer to Q1 - even though I did get it right :-), if my own childhood lies back more than 30 years - laws have changed in the meantime, and I don't have children at the moment, so the whole question is of no interest to me, and once I do have children, I would look into the issue anyway :roll:), the choice of drivers selected (random people on car parks at supermarkets, petrol stations - why not at car meets with only Rado and Rocco drivers attending ? :lol: They only would have to read up on forums like this to know where we are :lol:, proper drivers that we are compared to the rubbish bin owners/drivers out there, that they did bother to interview :lol:) the results were quite shocking (but then again, as they haven't asked owners of proper cars, that doesn't surprise me :lol:):

 

The best scoring country was Austria (Wot? Not Germany, now there's a surprise :lol:), where 64.4% got all the answers right, Britain came 3rd last (scored 49.2%, yeah, but we have fewer accidents *hooray*), Germany came 2nd (61.5%), and the rest were in the middle, Spain coming 2nd last (47.2%), Slowenia coming last (43.4%).

 

All folks said that they judged their driving skills to be good to very good :lol:

 

OK, so here are the questions (oh, don't forget, unlike the instructions in my magazine, not all questions can only have one correct answer, due to which I got 2 questions wrong, even though I already wanted to tick several boxes, but the instructuions didn't say anything :roll:):

 

1. How do children have to be secured in a car?

A. Children have to sit on the rear bench.

B. Children only have to be buckled up with a seatbelt.

C. Children have to be secured into suitable child seats or similar safety devices.

 

2. Who has to wear a seatbelt in a motorcar?

A. Only the driver.

B. Only the driver and passenger.

C. All people sitting inside.

 

3. How do you correctly handle the car when aquaplanning occurs?

A. Don't brake and keep the steering straight.

B. Brake gently and countersteer.

C. You must brake.

 

4. How do you secure a vehicle on the motorway when it's broken down (irrelevant, as Corrados don't break down :lol:):

A. Place the warning triangle 100 metres behind the parked vehicle.

B. Switch on hazard lights.

C. Wave past traffic to keep it flowing past the broken down vehicle .

D. Bring passengers into safety (e.g. behind the crash barrier).

 

5. When should you perform a test brake manoeuvre?

A. When the car hasn't been driven for some time.

B. After a car wash.

C. When you drive a car that you normally don't drive.

D. After each oil change.

 

6. Where is overtaking absolutely forbidden?

A. At pedestrian crossings (really? :lol:)

B. On country roads.

C. On road sections with restricted or otherwise bad view of the complete road.

D. At bus stops.

 

7. Are you allowed to use your mobile phone whilst driving?

A. Yes, without any limitations.

B. Yes, but only when using a hands-free kit.

C. Yes, but only to answer calls when you're not using a hands-free kit.

D. No.

 

8. What do you have to carry in the car for emergency situations/breakdowns? (this question is almost irrelevant, as legislation in the UK is different to that in Germany and some other EU countries - you'd think, the ADAC and partner organisations would have thought of scrapping this question :roll:):

A. Warning triangle.

B. Reflective vest.

C. Spare tyre/wheel.

D. First aid kit

E. Nothing

 

9. What to do to drive in an environmentally-friendly and petrol-saving manner (totally irrelevant to us Corrado bunch :lol:)

A. Have a tyre pressure below the recommended value.

B. Change up a gear as soon as possible (now where's the fun of doing that?)

C. Avoid fast acceleration and hard braking.

D. Switch off engine at every red traffic light.

 

10. What is the legal alcohol level?

A. 0.2 0/00 (Permille for you lot, as the rest of the EU don't use Pints as a measure)

B. 0.5 0/00

C. 0.8 0/00

D. 0 0/00

 

11. What does the ABS do?

A. It reduces braking distance.

B. It allows for the vehicle to be steered when braking with full intensity.

C. It reduces the severity of an impact in case of an accident.

 

12. What should you not do when the passenger airbag is activated?

A. Move the passenger seat back all the way.

B. Carry children in backwards facing childseats on the passenger seat.

 

13. What is the correct height adjustment of the headrest from a safety point of view?

A. The top edge of the headrest should reach into the neck.

B. The top edge of the headrest should be level with the highest point of the head.

C. The top edge of the headrest should protrude above the head.

 

14. When are rear fog lights allowed (muppet question alert, as too many muppets get this one wrong, all nono-Rado drivers, of course :lol:)

A. When it's foggy and visibility is les than 50 metres.

B. With poor visibility.

C. Always.

D. Whenever it's foggy.

 

Answers on a postcard to the usual address, Tony Blair etc., :lol: No prizes unless we might be able to lobby that all cars that are not type 53s by Karmann have to leave the road for one day a year :-)

 

Probably time to choose a more relevant set of questions of interest to us purveyors of Karmann's beautiful coupes :lol:

 

Tempest

[veeDuB_Rado 0]

dumbest....

 

 

 

 

:lol:

[dinkus 10]

1B

2C

3A

4A,B,D but oh what a tit you must be to do C

5B

6A

7B

8A

9B,C

10 fook knows, I'd like it to be 0 tho.

11B although partly A and :lol: at C!

12B

13B

14A, but it's 100m in the UK (might be 100yds actually...hmm)

[chrishill 0]

hmm, question 11...

 

11. What does the ABS do?

A. It reduces braking distance.

B. It allows for the vehicle to be steered when braking with full intensity.

C. It reduces the severity of an impact in case of an accident.

 

I would have given something etirely different as an answer if there werent multiple choice! I guess the effect of what they do results in A and B though.

[Jimjam 0]

hmm, question 11...

 

11. What does the ABS do?

A. It reduces braking distance.

B. It allows for the vehicle to be steered when braking with full intensity.

C. It reduces the severity of an impact in case of an accident.

 

I would have given something etirely different as an answer if there werent multiple choice! I guess the effect of what they do results in A and B though.

 

Nah, B only. It can actually increase breaking distance.

[bcstudent 0]

I read the title as 'dummest (sic)'. Was that an intentional error or just a somewhat ironic faux pas?

[dinkus 10]

Yeah B is the correct answer although if you just jabbed your foot on the brakes as hard as you can wihtout ABS, the braking distance would be considerably longer.

 

But it is possible to brake in a shorter distance without the use of ABS.

[Tempest 0]

Nah, B only. It can actually increase breaking distance.

 

Correct.

 

I read the title as 'dummest (sic)'. Was that an intentional error or just a somewhat ironic faux pas?

 

Just my ze crap Engleesh skeels :lol:

 

Tempest

[bcstudent 0]

Better than mein Deutsch!