Drivers in Germany have been named among the friendliest in the world, according to a ranking by AutoTrader UK, a site for trading new and used cars.
According to a ranking published by AutoTrader UK, for which drivers from across the world assessed their own friendliness on the roads, drivers in the United Kingdom are the most agreeable.
To determine which countries have the most cheerful drivers, AutoTrader asked 3.200 people from 16 countries to rate themselves by how friendly they are on the road. They were asked to give information about any uncourteous driving habits they had, such as tailgating, honking, verbal aggression or gestures.
Participants then answered questions from the “agreeableness” section of the “Big 5 Personality Test”, which was developed in the 1980s and “measures” personality traits such as kindness, empathy and cooperativeness. While the Big 5 Personality Test was once widely accepted in government policy, academic studies and private companies, more recent research questions its reliability.
UK drivers gave themselves a “friendly driving” score of 35,40 out of 40, the Australians followed in second, assigning themselves 35,02, while New Zealanders came third with 33,59.
Drivers in Germany gave themselves a score of 31,07 out of 40 for road friendliness, the 13th-friendliest in the ranking, with only Mexico (30,84) and Poland (29,55) rounding out the 15 spots in the ranking.
Given that Germany has previously been named one of the worst countries in the world for making friends, “tech-phobic and unfriendly” and an “unhappy and lonely” place to live, it may come as a surprise that Germans would rate themselves so highly for being cheerful on the roads.
Like most aspects of life in Germany, if you abide by the many rules of the road, you can expect your fellow drivers, users of public transport or cyclists to be relatively convivial or neutral. But if you overstep these rules, someone will let you know, and not necessarily in a friendly or discreet way.
In all, here are the countries with the most agreeable drivers in the world:
For more information about the ranking, visit the AutoTrader UK website.
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