So is having a bad driving record kind of like a medical “pre-existing condition” now and insurance companies can’t charge you more for it without engaging in discrimination and getting sued?

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry…

Watch car insurance companies require DNA tests now before they give you insurance, and charge you higher rates if you have this gene…

And then you have people using their DNA in court as an excuse for why they caused accidents…

This thread ought to get real good, real quick…

As if people really need another reason to be unaccountable.

So that helps explain 30% of the drivers…what about the other 50% that can’t drive worth a damn?

They finally found the stupid gene.
Now if they could just find the a-hole gene.

Why? Don’t you have one?

this is the best excuse for rear ending somebody ever conceived! If they get mad at you for crashing into them, then punch you in the face, you can call it a hate crime and sue their guts out! Its the american way.

wow, ook at the car in the picture, how did that happen?

What is the Asian/Immigrant population of the US, 30%? I’m just joking, there has to be lots of women included in that 30%.

^but that would mean there are 20% who are good drivers!

joking

So this gene must be dominant among the Chinese, Vietnamese, Hispanics, and Indians, and particularly affect females.

Yes, a-hole gene right here.

ASIMO beat me to it.

I don’t think the last paragraph does anything to make it a more cheering subject “if you have MS its all better!” yea….no!

Wait for it ……………………………………………………….. their gonna sell you a little yellow pill!
Drugs! the American way!

.

What a drag it is driving drivin’ fast ….

Things are different today
I hear other drivers say
Smegley needs somethin’ today to slow him down!
‘Cuz his genes are very ill
there’s a little yellow pill
He goes runnin’ for the shelter of his driver’s little helper
and it helps him on his way
and he guns down the highway ….

So people who have Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and MS can drive better, if they have this gene, then people who don’t have this gene or the diseases? LMAO. Just thought I would throw another twist into this thread.

I can see the steam coming out of the auto insurance carrier execs now. There goes a light bulb going off now too. Maybe they should test for this. It would keep 30% of thos drivers off the roads then. Just think, less traffic and less accidents. Hmmm.

I wonder if Need More Koolaid for GM has this gene. I bet he does. That would explain a lot.

Something tells me the accident in the photo above was probably the driver’s fault!

I’ll probably be dead by the time the insurance companies figure out how to pre-screen for this, but a lot of you will just be getting your licenses in 10 years, so good luck A4 and Smeg.

Yeah it is genetic… It’s called having an extra X chromosomes

I’m with you, NRG. GEICO can just go ahead and throw out the old actuarial tables. Problem is, they’ll use this as an excuse to raise everyone’s premiums until they figure out new ones.

Maybe I can circumvent the system by not wearing any genes.

I guess my copy of “Cerebral Cortex” must have got lost in the mail.

No wait… there it is, stuck to the bottom of “Big Uns”.

this is going to be a huge problem for future generations, and ours in the not-too-distant future…genome sequencing is getting cheaper by the day, and our knowledge about what gene variants are associated with what phenotypes (outward effects, basically) is only going to grow…if information about our genomes is freely released, then everybody (insurance companies) will know your genetic profile, and an insurance company would then try to adjust your rates based on your risk of having certain diseases…

there are some interesting books about this subject…if people start using genetic profiling to select mates, for example, there are some weird implications…especially if there’s an economic factor, where only rich folks can afford to get profiled, and consequently demand that their partners (therefore also rich) have their profile done – and then genetic compatibility becomes a reason for having kids…after a few generations of that kind of selective breeding, you’d see weird stuff happening…

the plus side is that your kids will know what diseases they are susceptible to and can therefore make better life choices in order to avoid problems…you may have a genetic profile that leaves you susceptible to lung cancer, so you decide to stay away from smokes from an early age, etc…that sorta thing…

that’s the nature of information, though…information is inert…the key is how that information is used…

beatus…

No… wait, I’ll translate myself.

“I really do appreciate the fact you’re sittin here
Your voice sounds so wonderful
But yer face don’t look too clear
So bar maid bring a pitcher, another round o brew
Honey, why don’t we get drunk and screw”

I wouldn’t worry too much leftwing… that fancy book f*ckin’ ain’t for everybody.

pfff, i can’t believe some so-called scientists have the guts to say such crap. Genetics didn’t apparently give him enough brain

“The gene variant isn’t all bad as it has been discovered to keep individuals with diseases such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and multiple sclerosis mentally sharper than those without.”

This is far more important than how the gene relates to car accidents.

Great. Let’s invent new ways of sluffing off personal responsibility.

“Your mistakes aren’t your fault. There’s a gene pattern that we have discovered that causes you to fail repeatedly. In short, all your problems are really because of your parents!”

Not. Raising. Kids.

Not only is it being excessively legislated, now we’re empowering our next generation to come and sue us to death for their own mistakes. The blood of their mistakes will now be on our hands.

explaining genetics to the public is often a huge fail…something is always lost in translation…makes it tough to talk to people at parties ;P “so, what do you do?”…”um, i’m a geneticist”…”oh, that’s nice”…[silence]…

Wow, imagine not getting car insurance because of this genetic “pre-existing condition”…

I gotta say this study is cool, but hardly useful. Like everyone else said, just another way for insurance companies to raise our premiums one day. I’d rather not know my genetic predisposition to disease, etc. It’ll just cause a mental road block. If you have the gene, chances are you will get the disease down the road, regardless of preventative measures. Take well conditioned athletes like Lance Armstrong and health nuts like Suzanne Somers for example.

Leftwing, you think they would ever allow the insurance companies use that sort of information against the patient? This is something the government (for once!!!) should step in and but the ax to using information in the hiring or premiums of anyone. They might (I say MINGT) use it to maybe detect problems before they start… But you know we cant’s figure out how to put roads in that are pot hole proof – this sounds a little out there for now. You’re giving WAY too much credit to those who are researching this kind of stuff. Even let’s say it has been perfected – it would take years – if not decades – for people to get the testing due to cost and complexity.

i think that the laws that protect medical records would have to be amended to include genome sequence, or maybe even stronger protections…i gotta run for now, but i’ll comment on the credit i’m giving them when i get back ;P

yeah….I believe this genetic variations is what I like to call……a WOMAN!!!!!!

Hey LWA, maybe it would just be best if we just let the govt control all insurance companies plus take over and consolidate all our medical records (and therefore genetic profiles) and then the govt can select our mates for us! We’ll not be able to escape because they’ll be integrating GPS tracking chips in our cars and eventually in our heads. You think I am kidding – that technology is already in the works for very limited use, but how long before the overlords mandate it so that they can “better manage our healthcare needs by understanding our daily interactions and travels.”

.

Oh wait – I am the one here who objects to control of things, aren’t I? Yes yes – you trust in the govt and you sign your own death certificate. In my world you are free to trust the govt if you are wish, but you are not free to impose your misguided trust on me.

Lotta big words bein’ thrown around by some ‘a you Mr. Smarty Pantses. And I, fer one, don’t rightly know that I ‘preciate it. I’ll just take up where our canadian friend left off, then…

Last night downtown I was drinking the booze
Like it was going out of style
My whole head got light
I lost my eyesight
I ain’t been that drunk in awhile
Along about one I spotted a queen
And I started to make my move
Aw, she was believing every line I was laying
Lord I was just to cool
Well I thought I died and gone to heaven
But lord did I look like a fool
Last night I came in at two with a ten
But at ten I woke up with a 2

So what was this “gene” doing before humans could drive? Was it contributing to an inability to walk in a straight line? Was it the cause of multi-human pile ups? I don’t believe for a second that bad driving is a genetic problem. I think scientists have run out of things to study.

Lets stop the funding to these A..holes right now. Nobody in their right or wrong mind is about to believe this mess. There is no justifying how that person drove off the pier and lost control unless they were:

1.texting and driving
2. getting some head
3. just plain reckless
4. A child behind the wheel

the good news is that if insurance companies were to start charging more, at least for auto insurance, it would be something called Discrimination. its like saying you cant have auto insurance because you’re black, for example. If they did do this, you could always sue them for big bucks and get a limo driver to drive you anyway.

omg…yea lets AGAIN blame it on someone else for your mistakes, americans

When the govt start selecting our mates based on genetic profiling, I say LWA’s and Johngalt’s mates should be selected by Bawney Fwank.

the fez highlights a major problem with communicating science…as i said earlier, science is tough to translate…of course driving isn’t the major effect of whatever genes are involved, since these variants existed long before cars…but the point is that they’ve identified specific genes related to memory and learning that correlate in a statistically significant way with bad scores on their driving test…

and speaking of tests, did j2d fail the reading comprehension section, where the text of the article and the picture LLN posts with the article aren’t exactly related?

hey smeg, by all means feel free to refuse medical advancements based on government-funded research in your own personal heath care! i’ll add that if your genome sequence was determined, and it became publicly available, and you were then discriminated against based on your genetic information, you would seek recourse via the law…the law created by, you guessed it, the government…

jake, as far as cost goes, today companies charge 50k to have your genome sequenced…the national human genome research institute is pushing a major initiative to reduce that cost to 1k per genome…we’re not at the 1k level yet, but when that happens sequencing will be much more common…here’s a link for the 50k genome:

http://investor.illumina.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=121127&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1298128&highlight=

there’s a lot happening in this field right now that might surprise you…

I think the scientists are just pissed off they don’t get half the attention lawyers do nowadays.

Asian lady + minivan (actually any type of vehicle, including bicycles) = death

Thats a load of ****! Stop making up excuses for being a bad driver. Your either a good driver or a stupid driver and really driving is easy enough for anyone with good mental and physical health. Most people just don”t pay attention (texting while driving), street race, or drive way too fast for the road conditions. i dodge atleast 1 accident everyday. I’m lucky that I haven’t been hit yet. So unless you drive a defective Toyota car (the floor mats are not whats causing the crashes) you have no excuse for causing an accident. Either learn to drive or don’t drive.

Estrogen is a gene now? Maybe I missed that back in 5th grade.