Do car enthusiasts make for better drivers?

[RicerX]

Some food for thought that I've had lately.

Do you think car enthusiasts make for better drivers than people who are indifferent toward car culture or cars in general?

On the other hand, do you think people who are not "car people" are less engaged in driving itself?

[Bubba1]

Some food for thought that I've had lately.

Do you think car enthusiasts make for better drivers than people who are indifferent toward car culture or cars in general?

On the other hand, do you think people who are not "car people" are less engaged in driving itself?

Difficult to prove conclusively one way or the other without accident/citation data that separates out enthusiasts from non-enthusiast. you'd also have to define a "good" driver.

Personally, I don't think being an enthusiast automatically makes you a better driver.

[RCA]

Tough question to answer.

Enthusiasts will always dedicate more time to the craft and so they will always be better drivers. Which of the two have the higher potential ceiling is impossible to tell.

[Jesda]

Good question.

Better at accident avoidance and more alert, most likely.

Safer overall? Fewer accidents? Who knows.

[numbnuts240]

no.

[BusyBadger]

Personally, I don't think being an enthusiast automatically makes you a better driver.

I'm in this camp right away. Because...

Enthusiasts will always dedicate more time to the craft and so they will always be better drivers.

...being a car enthusiast doesn't necessarily equate to being a driving enthusiast.

Two enthusiasts spending money...





Are you going to tell me the top one (or even the bottom one) is a better driver than these non-driving enthusiasts?







One of the enthusiasts is most likely better than the other, but to say that they're both automatically better than a non-enthusiast - I don't buy it.

[flohtingPoint]

It's all a game of averages within age brackets. I dont think it has anything to do with import or domestic, both have their share of dbags. On average, the below 40 crowd are terrible, especially around DC/B'more. Lots of dbags in modified cars driving like total morons on public roads. The local "car enthusiast" board for DC/VA area, VADriven, is jam packed with cockbags that make daily driving a game of Russian Roulette. Once you hit that 40 barrier, it's almost like a light switch went on and you figured out that you're either going to drive the car on the track or putt putt to cars and coffee.

As with anything, there are exceptions to the rule. I know plenty of people that are my age, or below, that have cars that they work on that drive perfect, as most of them know the proper outlet for aggressive driving (the track), and the rest just like tinkering with vehicles and dont have much interest in driving them (beats me why, but as long as they're not doing 95 down the I95, I dont care).

[alphapig]

Enthusiasts generally drive slower on the streets, and keep the fast driving to actual fast driving

Highway drag queens and boy racers aren't enthusiasts

[flohtingPoint]

Enthusiasts generally drive slower on the streets, and keep the fast driving to actual fast driving

Highway drag queens and boy racers aren't enthusiasts

Think so? I'm fairly certain there is a whole series of movies dedicated to those enthusiasts, Furiously Fast or something like that?

[alphapig]

Falls under the "boy racer" category

[MinisterofDOOM]

As Bubba said, I'd be interested to see some real data (but then again...not really, as if it's not in my favor the insurance companies will have yet more reason to charge me ridiculous amounts of money for being an accident-free driver for over a decade).

But my personal take on it is that it's akin to 4WD: greater capability merely enables you to get yourself into situations that are that much tougher to get OUT of. You might be better at emergency maneuvers, but you're more likely to end up needing to use them.

[BadQ45t]

Interestly I got invited to a Car & Driver/Road & Track event to evaluate mid-size sedans. This was my second invite to such an event. Yout got to pour over the cards (Nissan Altima, Honda Accord, Hyndai Sonata, and Toyota Camry). Most of the people there were north of 40 and were enthusiasts for sure. Some were dragged along by their friends that were. They gave you the chance to drive on a closed course and to get the cars sideways..what I found was that 3/4 of the self proposed enthusiasts couldn't handle the cars at edge but 1/4 of them could get a front wheel drive car into a proper slide and handle it...while the hanger-oners had no clue how to do that. So overall I think enthusiasts know more about diving a car on the edge and also pay more attention to updating their tires, shocks/struts and overall running quality of their cars. I always replace my tires, shocks, etc before they are worn out while my friends that treat cars as transportation just want to know if "they can get another 5k out of the brakes or tires." So from that perspective I think enthusiasts are on the right side of the driving ability bell curve.

[Bubba1]

That sounds like a fun day. But, just because someone is more adept at car control does mean they'll follow the rules or excercise good judgement while driving on the street.

[BadQ45t]

I agree it doesn't mean they follow the rules, but at least they less likely to CAUSE accidents and can handle their cars better when bad stuff happens that is no cause of their own.

[JTR32gtst]

True respectable car guys do know a place and time and can respectfully disregard traffic laws (if this exists) and can do so without harming other individuals. It is a fine line of knowing the actual car you are in, knowing the situation you are in, and know the surroundings. Good driving stems from maturity of the driver. I do not think it has much of anything to do with an enthusiast or not.

[WDRacing]

I can't go get a coffee without seeing someone do something stupid any more. Whether it's a cell phone glued to their face or a total lack of attention, I have zero faith in society when it comes to being behind the wheel.

Good drivers are severely out numbered by bad ones.

Does an enthusiast drive better? You'd have to define enthusiast pretty clearly for me to make that call. If enthusiast means someone that's completed a course or two at Bondurant, then yes. Otherwise, I tend to assume people are going to suck at driving until I'm proven wrong.

[Dattebayo]

I'm gonna have to go ahead and say no.

For example: The last guy I worked with loved talking about cars. He really knew his stuff, was constantly complaining about how others drive like sh*t in this area (and I have to agree about that last bit). He also scared the sh*t out of me with his driving. He would dart in and out of lanes, fail to use signals, completely ignore all speed limits, cut others off and face down other cars on the road who drove the same. He also wouldn't wear a seat belt claiming it had dubious life-saving claims in an accident.

Nothing more complicated than perception, right? Sometimes how you see yourself just isn't how it is in reality.

And being someone who has had a loved one killed by an enthusiast's driving, I may be a bit biased, but you have to realize that for every one good responsible car guy, there are probably 9 idiots out there who like to hoon it up on the public roads.

[PEZi]

Falls under the "boy racer" category

We're getting to the point of defining "enthusiast" because every one of your "boy racers" is going to say they are enthusiasts...

[krash]

I don't think theres too much of a correlation. Just because someone likes cars doesn't mean they're going to drive them well. Just because someone likes horses doesn't mean they're going to be good at riding them.

I will say, car enthusiasts that build their cars by hand have more value for what they're driving, so they'll tend to be more mindful of whats going on. This isn't true for everyone however.