When instructor Bill Kennedy takes students on their first drives, he’s not so concerned whether they obey traffic rules.

It’s the other drivers on the road he’s worried about.

“The one thing that stands out the most, is when they make a right or left turn, they don’t turn into the correct lane,” Kennedy, who runs Bill Kennedy’s Drive-Right School of Lawrence, said, describing the motorist behavior he witnesses all too often.

“They also run yellow lights, or just flat run red lights,” Kennedy said. “Sometimes they try to make a right turn on a red light, when they don’t have the right-of-way. That’s really hazardous.”

So, Kennedy said he wasn’t surprised to find out about a new study that shows there are 20 million licensed drivers nationally who may not be fit for the road and that Kansas ranks 22nd in knowledge and practice of safe traffic habits. Roughly one in 12 Kansas drivers would fail a written driving test of traffic rules and regulation, according to the report.

“I would say there’s a large number (of drivers) who don’t know the basic rules and regulations,” Kennedy said.

The study, by GMAC Insurance, showed about 7 percent of licensed Kansas drivers were possibly unfit to be behind the wheel. Kansas ranked better than Texas, which was 32nd. But worse than Missouri, which ranked 15th.

Kansas State Trooper Sgt. Timothy McCool demonstrates how seat belts can prevent a driver involved in a rollover from being ejected from a vehicle. A Kansas Turnpike Safety Break and Rollover demonstration was held at the Topeka Service Area west of Lawrence on Friday.

“That’s pretty good,” Greg Horn, vice president of material damage claims for GMAC in St. Louis, said of Kansas’ ranking.

But one never knows when a bad driver is headed your direction.

“Identifying those (7 percent of bad drivers) is the trick,” Horn said.

As Memorial Day weekend gets under way, police and highway officials in Douglas County know they’ll deal with clogged roads and the occasional bad driver.

“I imagine with the three different lakes we have here, there would be increased traffic,” said Douglas County Sheriff’s Lt. Doug Wood. “I assume we’ll have speeders, violators and stuff like that out there that we’ll try to keep an eye on.”

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GMAC’s study of almost 5,000 drivers nationwide showed that 84 percent of licensed Kansas motorists would pass the written licensing test. Oregon was tops with 89 percent, and Rhode Island was last with 77 percent.

“I think there’s a correlation between knowing the rules and obeying them,” Horn told the Journal-World. “Forgetting the rules of the road can lead to more accidents.”

Scott Helman, Greeley, Colo., left, wears a pair of Fatal

Horn said the most-forgotten rule requires drivers to stay at least two seconds behind the vehicle in front of them.

“I can tell you from all the hours I’ve driven on I-70,” Horn said, “a lot of people don’t follow the two-second follow rule.”

Wood, though, wasn’t so concerned.

“I think generally, everyone’s a good driver,” he said. “Like anything else, there’s lackadaisical moments or lapses : that cause them to make a mistake here or there.”

That’s why deputies will spend the weekend monitoring traffic.

“People should take their time and be cautious, don’t be in too big a hurry to get someplace,” Wood said.

Kennedy, meanwhile, will continue his attempts to instill good habits in Lawrence’s youngest drivers.

“Hopefully, we go over it enough times in the car that it becomes part of their driving personality,” he said. “But we only have so many hours – the rest of their time they’re with parents or family.”