Two new studies suggest that many drivers have a blind spot when it comes to their own behavior behind the wheel. A report from CAA found that 96% of Ontario drivers have witnessed others driving dangerously, but only 57% thought they might be a problem themselves. Meanwhile, a separate U.S. report from AAA found that roughly 79% of American drivers admit to breaking the speed limit.
The disconnect between what drivers see and what they do is striking. In Ontario, the most commonly witnessed dangerous behavior was speeding, spotted by 78% of those surveyed. Unsafe lane changes came next at 68%, followed by distracted driving at 67%. Yet when asked about their own habits, only 57% of respondents admitted to engaging in any dangerous driving behavior themselves — a number that climbed to 62% among drivers aged 18 to 34.
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What counts as speeding? Depends who you ask
The U.S. study from AAA dug into how drivers define “speeding” and “dangerous” driving, and the answers varied widely depending on the type of road. On residential streets with a 25 mph (40 km/h) limit, most drivers said they weren’t speeding until they hit 33 mph (53 km/h). They figured police wouldn’t pull them over until 35 mph (56 km/h), and they didn’t consider their driving dangerous until they reached 44 mph (70 km/h).
The gap widened on other roads. On arterial roads with a 35 mph (56 km/h) limit, drivers didn’t think they were dangerous until they hit 56 mph (90 km/h) — a full 21 mph over the posted limit. On rural highways with a 70 mph (112 km/h) limit, respondents said they wouldn’t consider their driving dangerous until they reached 88 mph (141 km/h).
Interestingly, drivers were slightly more conservative when it came to urban highways with the same 70 mph limit. There, they said they’d be speeding at 8 mph over, expected a ticket at 10 mph over, and would consider it dangerous at 15 mph over.
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Why drivers say they speed
Among the Ontario drivers who admitted to speeding, more than half said they “typically travel 10 to 19 km/h above the speed limit.” Many also didn’t seem to realize that fines increase with how far over the limit a driver is going.
The CAA report noted that the findings reveal “a disconnect between what drivers see on the road and how they assess their own actions.” That gap between perception and reality appears to be a common thread across both countries, suggesting that most drivers genuinely believe they’re better than the average — even when the math says otherwise.
