How does your state rank?

Despite my experience over the past 19 months, Arkansas drivers apparently aren’t all that bad. In fact, one recent study ranks them ahead of Indiana.

GMAC Insurance has released the results of its National Drivers Test for 2009. The test, which measures basic knowledge of driving laws, was given to more than 5,000 drivers from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Idaho and Wisconsin drivers ranked first and New Yorkers finished last.

Idaho and Wisconsin drivers tied for the highest average score, with an 80.6.

The point of the test is to measure how much we know about safe driving. And the news isn't good.

In a press release, GMAC explains, "Results from the 2009 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test released today found that 20.1 percent of licensed Americans - amounting to roughly 41 million drivers on the road - would not pass a written drivers test exam if taken today." Most of us have trouble, according to the results, with "questions about yellow lights and safe following distances."

The survey has been given for five years. The average score has fluctuated up and down during that time, but this year it is down - 76.6 percent versus last year's 78.1.

GMAC notes, "In general, geographical regions ranked similarly to previous years, with the lowest average test scores in the Northeast, while the states in the Midwest held the highest averages. When comparing genders, men are still more likely to pass the test than women, but the gap is considerably smaller in 2009 (81 percent of males versus 79 percent of females) than in 2008 (87 percent of males versus 80 percent of females)."

And, "The older the driver, the higher the test score." Drivers over 35 were more likely to pass than those under 35, while men over 45 posted the highest scores, and "the age group with the highest failure rates was young adults (18 to 24 years old)."

The study, of course, begs the question of how much correlation there is between driver knowledge and the level of actual skill and accident rates.

But based solely on the GMAC data, most of my motorcycle rides should be in a northwesterly direction. That’s fine with me. I like riding in the Pacific Northwest and the West. Kind of a bummer about California, though. I’ve been hankering for a visit to Big Sur this summer.

Here are the rankings:

1	Idaho
1	Wisconsin
3	Montana
4	Kansas
5	South Dakota
5	Nebraska
7	Utah
8	Wyoming
8	Iowa
8	Oregon
8	Minnesota
12	Alaska
12	North Dakota
14	Vermont
15	Colorado
15	Missouri
17	Oklahoma
17	Washington
19	New Mexico
20	North Carolina
21	Virginia
22	Indiana
22	Michigan
24	Arkansas
24	Texas
26	Alabama
26	Nevada
28	West Virginia
29	Illinois
30	Arizona
31	Maine
32	Delaware
33	New Hampshire
34	Ohio
35	Kentucky
36	Pennsylvania
37	Louisiana
38	Tennessee
38	Mississippi
40	South Carolina
40	Maryland
42	Connecticut
43	Florida
44	District of Columbia
45	Massachusetts
46	Rhode Island
47	Georgia
48	California
49	Hawaii
50	New Jersey
51	New York