Better drivers?

"cpw" wrote in message
oups.com...
I apologize if this topic has been beaten to death in the past. I am
wondering if there are any statistics on whether pilots are safer
(automobile) drivers than the general public. It has seemed to me that
my pilot training has improved my driving skills in several ways:
situational awareness, planning ahead, general safe driving practices,
etc. Anybody have any opinions (HAH!) in the group?

Given that I've seen no evidence that pilots on the whole are better at
avoiding crashes in airplanes than they otherwise would statistically be
expected to be, I see no reason to think they would be better drivers. That
is, if they can't even be better-than-average in flying than they'd be
expected to be, why would one expect them to be better-than-average in
anything else?

If anything, I find some of the most common problems with driving
(aggressive driving such as tailgating and speeding, lack of basic knowledge
of right-of-way rules) to be quite rampant among the drivers with whom I
share the airport parking lot.

For my own part, it doesn't happen much if at all these days, but when I
first learned to fly, I kept having trouble keeping my driving reflexes out
of my flying and vice a versa. I'd check the (nonexistent) mirror, reach
for the (nonexistent) turn signal, and look over my shoulder to check my
(irrelevant) blind spot before making a turn in an airplane. In the car,
I'd find myself pushing and pulling on the steering wheel in response to
changing terrain.

Finally, while not a proof of my opinion, it seems to me that insurance
companies would be more eager to get pilots on their rolls for auto
insurance if they were statistically superior risks. I have never seen any
sort of targeted advertising along those lines.

What I *would* agree with is that pilots are an arrogant lot, with a
tendency to think that they are superior to the average person and a
misplaced belief that that above-average-ness permeates throughout their
entire existence. I've seen that attitude posted here enough, that's for
sure.

But, while there certainly are pilots who are above-average, I don't really
see any reason to think there are more pilots, relatively speaking, who are
above-average than there are people who are above-average in the general
population.

Remember, something like 80% of all drivers believe they are above-average.
Obviously nearly half of those people are wrong.

Pete