Study Finds That First-Borns Are Truly Awful Drivers

When it comes to siblings there always seems to be one who feels some kind of resentment towards the other.

If you're the second-born you'll most likely feel a deep lying, petty hatred towards your brother or sister, as they came along first.

When you popped out it had all been done before. First steps, it had been seen. First words, it had been witnessed. First birthday party, that's a thing of the past. Your older sibling had done it all first, so when it comes to you there's not much you can do to outdo them.

As if that's not bad enough, there's a plethora of studies that claim the first-born is better at a lot of things. There are claims that they're cleverer and funnier, as well as a host of other desirable personality traits.

But according to new research second-borns now have an edge on their siblings, at least with one thing.

Privilege Car Insurance found that first-borns are actually awful drivers. The study looked at the driving habits of 1,395 motorists, concluding that a huge percentage of older brothers and sisters are more likely to develop bad habits.

89 percent of older siblings are likely to speed, 35 percent of those will be slapped with fines as a result, 47 percent will cut off fellow drivers, and 46 percent are likely to use the middle of the road, Metro reports.

All the information indicates that they're more likely to either cause or be in an accident, proven by them trying to multi-task while driving.

Noel and Liam Gallagher are very famous brothers, but their brother Paul is the oldest. Credit: PA

30 percent were found to break the law by using their mobile phones, while another 17 percent admitted to applying make up. This resulted in 22 percent having a minor accident and 15 percent having a serious incident in the last five years.

While this is a result for second-borns, don't get on your high horse too quick, as a past report from Joseph Doyle, an MIT economist, finds that you're more likely to be a bigger troublemaker.

"The firstborn has role models, who are adults. And the second, later-born children have role models who are slightly irrational two-year-olds, you know, their older siblings," Doyle told NPR. "Both the parental investments are different, and the sibling influences probably contribute to these differences we see in the labor market and what we find in delinquency. It's just very difficult to separate those two things because they happen at the same time."

Topics: Driving

Mark McGowan

Mark is a journalist at LADbible, who joined in 2015 after a year as a freelance writer. In the past he blogged for independent football fan channel Redmen TV, after graduating from Staffordshire University with degrees in journalism and English literature. He has worked on campaigns such as UOKM8? and IIOC.