Each year, GMAC Insuranceconducts a survey to determine how many American drivers would meettoday's basic requirements to obtain a driver's license.

The 7th annual GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test resultsprojected that 18 percent of Americans—or 36.9 million people—wouldfail the test with a score of less than 70 percent.

Though the average score across the country was 77.9 percent, upfrom last year's 76.2 percent average, 85 percent of test takerscould not identify the correct action to take when approaching asteady yellow traffic light, and about 75 percent were unaware ofsafe following distances.

The results revealed some interesting statistics:

• Kansas held the top spot for the second year in a row with an82.9 percent average score, while Washington D.C. fell to lastplace with a 71.8 percent average score. This marked the first timein four years that New York did not fall to the bottom spot.
• More than 27 percent of women failed the test, while only 13.6 percent of men failed.
• The Midwest was dubbed the best driving region, while theNortheast was considered the worst.
• Thirty-four percent of drivers in New York and Washington D.C.failed the test.
• Older drivers achieved higher scores than younger drivers.However, there were strong indications that the youngest testtakers, aged 16-24, are becoming better drivers.

The survey took into account 5,130 licensed drivers aged 16-65and included participants from all 50 states and the District ofColumbia. The online exam consisted of 20 questions taken fromstate Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) exams, with regionaldifferentiators, such as what to do when driving in a snow,eliminated to create a universal set of questions.

Headline corrected to read “GMAC Insurance”