Good or Gooder?

Is it better to be a good driver in a bad car or a bad driver in a good car?

Posted on: 09 Jan 2023

Do you prefer good or gooder?

I was recently driving around town and in a situation where I saw a good conscientious driver who I respected for their driving skills on the road but unfortunately the car they were driving was clearly putting a lot of pollutants into the air. In the same trip, I witnessed a driver who was acting aggressively, erratic and overall unsafe in their driving. This person who I would consider a “bad driver”, was driving in an Electric Vehicle that was not directly polluting the air.
This experience made me ask myself “would I prefer to have a good driver in a car that pollutes on the road or a bad driver in a car that is better for the environment?” My initial thought was that I was being selfish and self-centered to care more about my experience on the road with a “bad driver” then the environment. Clearly saving the world and our air that we breathe is more important than my or others comfort on the road, RIGHT?. But I did talk to a friend who pointed out that a bad driver would eventually cause or be involved in an accident which would result in potential harm to others as well as more waste from a ruined vehicles. So that is the counter point which made me feel like I wasn’t just being selfish, “bad drivers” are bad for the environment as well.
Ultimately I don’t know which is truly gooder, but I am more concerned at the moment in my life with the quality of the air that we breathe on the earth that we live in. So my personal decision is to say that an EV on the road, even with a bad driver, is better than a car which is polluting the air that we breath.