Bad Driving Could Be Genetic, Study Says

Up to 30 Percent of Americans may Have Trait, Researchers Suggest

(CBS)  Are you a bad driver? If so, maybe it's not your fault.

Difficulty driving may be pegged to a genetic trait, according to a new study published Thursday on Live Science's Web site.

If the results, which only examined 29 drivers, holds true then it is estimated that 30 percent of Americans have the bad driving gene.

The driving test required participants to take 15 laps on a simulator complete with bends and turns and measured how well the drivers stayed on course.

CBS Poll: Texting + Driving Should be Illegal

"These people make more errors from the get-go, and they forget more of what they learned after time away," Steven Cramer, lead researcher and neurology associate professor at the University of California, Irvine.

Click here for the complete report on the bad driver gene.

[barbaram99]

John_Merritt brought out the truth of the matter. He is right. should we go to Iletting the computer do the driving for us. It would be be safer. It is too easy to get that card that allows ye to drive. They blame it on genes. That is a cop out. People learn to drive and pick up driving habit good or bad. It is not in the genes. They watse money on useless studies...I am 55. Birth from birth. It is learnt behaviour. Learnt. The seeing learn by sight. They copy others. That is it a nut shell.

[barbaram99]

I don't beleve this artcle at all. No way. They want to blame genes. That is a cop out. Laziness on the part of the driver to learn the proper skills to be a good and safe driver. The would rathher multi task than drive...Common sense people..People say they gotta have their cars yet won't drive properly should not be driving. I walk as I can't drive due I can't see to. I carry a cell at times. I do not walk and talk on it. I don't as it is not safe to. I stop and talk. I am so tired of pissed off drivers. Park the dam car and walk. I ride the bus and my computer is sometimes with me. I don't use it on the bus. I just don't. There are rules of the road that must be obeyed. It seem drivers don't want to do the right..they blame it on this/that..It don't fly. Selfish drivers. The me ,myself and I person is more like it drvers. My friend turnt 55 and we talked about age and safe driving. He is over 55. Anyway I told him as I saw it. I told him the truth. He was ready for a life of no driving. I said Vince yer no longer a safe driver and why. Drivers transport others in the family car. They need to be mindful of that and others on the roads.I don't buy the info that this article talked about..It is poor driving not genes. Learnt from watching poor driving habits. Poor driving..I am 555. Both genders are to blame.

[ianlou]

Lets create a test that all drivers must take to identify the 30% of driving dim-wits.
Then the car insurance companies can charge them four times more for car insurance and stop jacking their rates on the rest of us based on unconnected measurements like credit ratings.

[rwsmith29456]

Even when she was young my Mom would get turned around and lost in even familiar places. The older I get the worse I get. Just tonight I was leaving a shopping strip by a side road and ended up heading into the woods instead of the highwy. I was thinking, 'This place doesn't look familiar?!" Happens all the time.

[sshivers]

As a cancer researcher, I've identified this gene; it's called the MRN1 (MoRoN) gene. It's the same gene shared by 30% of the American population who always vote for the Republican candidate (no matter who it is) and sincerely believe that Fox News is "real".

[SunDog8259]

Hummm, I wonder if they checked chimpanzees for this gene? If they too may have it, just hand them a cell phone and see what they do with it!

[borg99]

Fine. So it's not your fault. You're still dangerous. Get off the road and walk.

[isanyonefair]

So what's the point of this research? To have another excuse for being irresponsible? Or to sell everyone a pill to drive better?
Although we could always go the discrimination route too. Never can run out of reasons for hating a group of people.

[hpriggs1]

Why are you people releasing this information at all? 23 people? I find this kind of story to be irresponsible and unnecessary. Please try to keep some kind of perspective, people. There is too much going on in the world to waste your readers' time.

[erasmus111]

by Skirtlifters October 29, 2009 5:52 PM EDT
hmm ... let's see...

How fast are you going in the fast lane? 'cause if you're going the speed limit, and boxing him in the slow lane, when he gets his chance ... zooooooom...

Are you really good looking...he might be ... well you know...




What I know is that a man can't stand to have a woman pass him. : )

He'll be piddleassin' along in the slow lane, not even doing the speed limit, and when I go by doin' the speed limit, he decides he's going to go OVER the speed limit to pass me, cut in front, just to prove something. What that something is....I don't know.

[erasmus111]

Ok, I might be going over the speed limit a bit.

[erasmus111]

Which means of course that he is going way over the speed limit to pass me.

[Solarrays247]

What I know is that a man can't stand to have a woman pass him. : )

He'll be piddleassin' along in the slow lane, not even doing the speed limit, and when I go by doin' the speed limit, he decides he's going to go OVER the speed limit to pass me, cut in front, just to prove something. What that something is....I don't know.
~~~erasmus111

erasmus111 October 29, 2009 6:57 PM EDT
Ok, I might be going over the speed limit a bit.

erasmus111 October 29, 2009 6:58 PM EDT
Which means of course that he is going way over the speed limit to pass me.
***************************************************************

erasmus111, I laughed out loud when I read your posts! So true! Happens all the time. Sure says a lot about those types, doesn't it?

[erasmus111]

by Solarrays247 October 29, 2009 7:44 PM EDT
Sure says a lot about those types, doesn't it?



It suuuuuure does! : )

[dancingmoon]

What were the ages and genders of the drivers I wonder.

So while not commercially available they do have a test for this gene.

When the test becomes commercially available, should first-time applicants for a driver's license be tested and if found to have the variant gene denied driving privileges?

Sounds logical in a protecting the public safety sort of way.

Assuming of course that further studies on more than 29 people validate this study. Only 7 of the 29 had this gene.

[peacefulperson]

This really IS junk science. 30% of the population has this gene. Did only the people with the "bad" gene make mistakes, or did people with the "good" gene also make mistakes.

Distracted drivers, medicated drivers, drunken drivers, careless daredevil drivers, even speeders, are BAD drivers. Do they ALL have this gene?

[ladyraestewa]

And yet again, we cannot just state bad drivers are selfish p r i c k s with no regard for anyone but themselves. There always has to be a reason so we don't tell people the truth --- they are morons and idiots and a waste of nature resources.

[SAMTORRES66]

ENGINEERS MAKE THE BEST DRIVERS, WE CAN CALCULATE APPROACH SPEEDS AND THE NECESSARY BRAKING POWER WITH PRECISION. WE THEN TO KNOW THE VEHICLE LIMITATIONS BETTER THAT OTHERS WITH A NON-SCIENTIFIC MIND.

[Lawyers-Guns-n-Money-01]

Yeah but you guys get distracted too easily. Especially when somone is sitting shotgun folding a map incorrectly.

(Freakin' drives you guys nuts)

[ibzjem]

Nah, we all have GPS now. You know, being the 21st century and all...

[erasmus111]

I'm drivin' along in the fast lane, and a guy is driving in the slow lane, and I drive past him. Next thing ya know it's the pedal to the metal, he's passing me, and then zooms in in front of me, cutting me off. Happens all the time. What do ya call that?

[Lawyers-Guns-n-Money-01]

What do ya call that?
=======================

NASCAR! Hey, from a guy's mentality, unless you're being taken into the wall, no harm, no foul. There's a difference between aggressive and bad.

(Rubbin's racin')

[erasmus111]

Uh-huh.

[John_Merritt]

Thanks for the kind words about my driving habits, however I believe it is because lack of attention, poor eye-hand coordination, complacency, alcohol, drugs and/or medications, poor defensive driving habits, speeding, etc. that causes the great majority of accidents.

My mother scared the living daylights out of me when she drove but yet she got in only one accident I can remember. I would love to think genetics plays a part in driving but I believe awareness of the road conditions and defensive driving will correct any deficiencies a person might have.

[Lawyers-Guns-n-Money-01]

Bad Driving Could Be Genetic, Study Says
========================================

Of coure it's genetic. Empirical evidence suggests that if you don't have a Y-chromosome, your chances of being a bad driver are exponentially greater than those with the chromosome.

[erasmus111]

by Skirtlifters October 29, 2009 2:54 PM EDT
lol

That extra leg of genetic material, you know ... that turns a Y into an X ?... is the location of the bad driving gene. Irrationality, irritability, and the inexorable desire to shop for shoes lie in this region of the chromosome.



Watch it, buddy.

[peacefulperson]

And yet women's insurance rates are lower because they get in fewer, less serious accidents than men. Hmm...there might be something about the Y chromosone, but it's probably not the point you wanted to make. :-D

[ianlou]

The Y-chromosome is also responsible for such bad driving habits as, excessive texting and cell phone usage, applying make-up in the rear view mirror, forgotten turn signal usage, etc.

[curiously1]

Do we really need studies in such subjects? I mean, did we already find a solution to cancer? Is "Bad Driving" all that's left unresolved?

[gangesdak]

Finding a cure for cancer is hard; and you have to study hard for years. This blame-the-gene study is within the reach of all; these dime size "researchers" can also take pride in their work.

[scubbasteve01]

Boy. You see now we all know why New Jersey has so many pot holes.

[kmwaugh]

They're full of s**t!!! One of their staff got a driving ticket, and now he's trying to explain away his stupidity by claiming it's genetics! What a piece of trsh this story is, and what's worst... people want to believe that crap!