Are Dogs Good Drivers? A Tiny Jezebel Investigation

I’m not sure how it happened, but a good news story entered my Twitter feed today. A dog left unattended in a car in South Florida drove around in circles, in a cul-de-sac, for an hour. The canine, who apparently refused to give his name or participate in an interview with ABC affiliate WPBF-TV, is a black lab who only smashed into one mailbox. I think that’s impressive. Clearly, this pup is a decent driver. But are all dogs?

“First I thought I saw somebody backing up, but then they kept going and I’m like, ‘OK, what are they doing?’ Then I saw the dog get out of the car, a big black lab or something, and I’m like, ‘This is turning weird,’” Anne Sabol, an eyewitness to the scene, told WPBF-TV. “I saw this car going around in a circle and it was doing it for about an hour. And when the cops got the door open, a black dog jumped out, I was like, ‘They should give that thing a license.’”

I agree.

But because I don’t drive and don’t know how to drive, I asked Jezebel’s friends at our sister car-centric site Jalopnik for insight into this particular road dog. This is what they said:

Erik Shilling, News Editor:

I would say the dog is no better or worse than your average American driver. It looks very distracted, for one thing, and doesn’t seem to be paying much attention, which, again, isn’t different from most people on the road. The fact that it only took out a mailbox in an hour’s time with presumably no previous driving experience also suggests it has a bright future behind the wheel.

Aaron Gordon, Senior Reporter:

I believe it is proven Goldens are the best dog drivers?

proper height to see over steering wheel

im going to say the dog is a good driver. it was not distracted by a cell phone and only hit one light pole, which puts the good dog in the top quartile of human drivers.

Erica Lourd, Video Producer:

oh wow i am surprised that we didnt cover this

i feel like a dog is best suited for driving for sport- like a rally cross or a drift event just because dogs are the most fun-loving pets that there are

so this driving in a parking lot in circles totally checks out

if the dog were to meander onto the street, though… probably chaos

he would just want to have fun and swerve, probably hitting a lot of other cars

Patrick George, Editor-in-chief:

I think the dog is an excellent driver, especially for a dog. What I’m seeing here is impressive car control. I have certainly seen worse when Ford Mustang drivers leave the Cars and Coffee.

There you have it: dogs are good drivers. Or, at least this one can handle his paws behind the wheel.