Bad driving could be blamed on your parents

Controversial results from a study by American neurologist Dr Steven Cramer indicate that bad driving could in part be due to the driver's genetic make-up.

Cramer, of University of California, Irvine, recently published a report in the Cerebral Cortex journal claiming that people with a particular gene variant performed about 20 percent worse in a driving test than people without.

"These people make more errors from the get-go, and they forget more of what they learned after time away," said Dr Cramer.

Test subjects were tasked with driving 15 laps of a challenging track in a simulator. How well they stayed on the track was recorded and the experiment was repeated four days later. The follow-up test yielded similar results.

Although only 29 people took part in the study (22 without the gene variant) this research is already being cited as significant and it could have potential consequences on motor insurance in the future.

"I'd be curious to know the genetics of people who get into car crashes," Cramer said. "I wonder if the accident rate is higher for drivers with the variant."

As much as 30 percent of the population could have this gene variant, although the jury is out on whether that's a bad thing, as it has been found to help people maintain their mental sharpness longer, despite the disadvantages for carrying out some tasks - such as driving.

"It's as if nature is trying to determine the best approach," Cramer said. "If you want to learn a new skill or have had a stroke and need to regenerate brain cells, there's evidence that having the variant is not good. But if you've got a disease that affects cognitive function, there's evidence it can act in your favor. The variant brings a different balance between flexibility and stability."

At this stage, the test for the gene variant is not commercially available, and it's likely that civil liberty law would prevent insurance companies from obtaining the right to that information.

Shane O' Donoghue