[sfpotter]

In my experience, Tesla drivers are some of the worst drivers on the road. They seem to pay the least attention to what's going on around them and are the most likely to pay fast and loose with the rules of the road. I don't know what's to account for this. There has been at least one study out of Berkeley that suggests that people who drive more expensive cars are more likely to break the rules of the road. It's possible that (at least here in Seattle), this is more likely to be the driver's first car since many people driving them are highly paid tech workers who often hail from others countries and who may not have as good of a grasp of driving in the US. Or it may be that this is enabled by autopilot itself (if your car is taking care of the safety you don't have to pay as much attention).

[dexwiz]

The last reason is the biggest imo. Previously if you didn't pay attention you would crash relatively often. Now you aren't punished in the same way. In the same way spell check made us worse spellers. You aren't required to pay attention to detail, so you never develop that skill.

[travisgriggs]

I taught my kids to drive both manuals and automatics. Usually we got the hang of driving an automatic, and then added manual in to the mix.

But with one of my kids, it was exactly as above. They scared the crap out of me, because they just would not focus well enough. We transitioned to a manual so that they were required to focus on the task at hand, and they then turned into a good driver.

(Aside: my kids, now college+ age have all gotten great deals on cars on college budgets, because they were willing to take a manual that cost far less due to reduced demand).

[mschuster91]

> There has been at least one study out of Berkeley that suggests that people who drive more expensive cars are more likely to break the rules of the road.

In Germany, we have a joke - BMWs don't need turn signal indicators, they have built-in precedence that comes with paying the money one needs to have to afford a BMW.

[DonHopkins]

Who needs Fahrvergnügen when you can have Bezahltumvorfahrtsgefühligkeitsrechtserwartung (Paid-for-precedence-feeling-of-entitlement-expectation)?

[HeyLaughingBoy]

Totally forgot about that. It's been decades since I've seen a far fig Newtons commercial.