Please don’t shoot the messenger, but Suncorp Metway, Ltd., a multi-faceted Australian Financial Service, ranked car accident claimants by sun sign last year in a study of 160,000 accident claims over the previous three year period. This is what they found.

The number one worst drivers were Geminis, “typically described as restless, easily bored and frustrated by things moving slowly,” explained Warren Duke, Suncorp’s national manager of personal insurance. “They had more car accidents than any other sign.”

No astrologer would argue with that description of the twins sign and probably this isn't very surprising news. But what about the other signs?

According to a news release dated February 10, 2002 @ http://corporate.suncorpmetway.com.au/news/news0142.asp , Duke said the study was carried out as part of Suncorp’s annual review of claims but there was no intention to use astrology to factor an individual's motor insurance premium.

"We always look for trends in claims to see if there are ways to reduce our pricing, but there is no intention to introduce astrology as a rating factor for motor insurance," he said.

Second and third place holders for this dubious honor are Taurus and Pisces. “Taureans were thought to be obstinate and inflexible, “said Duke, “while Pisceans could be risk-takers and dare devils.”

Your personal astrologer would offer other explanations. First Taurus. Yes, Taureans can be obstinate and inflexible. But they are also the most introverted and self absorbed of all the signs. Their natural path in life is to think about their own body -- its immediate comfort and needs -- and to deal with only the most tangible and immediate of realities. Their thinking as drivers may run like this. My stomach is full, the temperature in the car is pretty good, the noise level is good, I’m riding right at 60, I don’t have to use the bathroom for at least another hour and there’s plenty of gas in the tank. At a very fundamental level, the world outside the chassis of their car may not exist at all. Since freeway driving requires spatial perception and processing of much abstract information (speed, flow and distance), this is counter to their natural way of processing the world around them.

Pisces, in the number three position, is the other sign that lives in a world of its own. Duke describes them as potential risk takers and daredevils. However, there are other signs we would nominate much more readily for a description like this.

Pisceans are the gentle dreamers of the zodiac. They may spend many hours a day in fantasy worlds, escaping the painful realities of life on the physical plane and more often than not the pain of being in a physical body. They often experience the whole manifest world as an illusion and their presence in it as temporary and of little importance.

This Piscean detachment from the physical can lead to unconscious feelings of invulnerability or invincibility, also to unconscious feelings of victimization and sacrifice. If you are momentarily deluded into thinking you don’t have physical limits, and that your life is but a fleeting moment in the eternal life of the soul, you can respond to situations of physical danger in illogical ways. Or, at the very least, be slow on the uptake.

Please don’t take these descriptions as critical. The qualities of Taurus and Pisces are invaluable in their proper spheres of influence. Astrology is not a critical tool. It is a tool of enlightenment. Something you read here and become conscious about may save your life.

Duke continues, “Capricornians [sic], who came last on the list, [are] typically described as patient and careful.”

No argument with that from the professional astrologer. It’s no surprise Caps are the safest behind the wheel. They’re the safest at everything! Their patience and sense of responsibility are legendary. Imagine the thrill I felt in the passenger seat when I divorced my Gemini husband and began dating a Capricorn.

The great middle ground of this survey is held by sun signs in this order:

4 Virgo
5. Cancer
6. Aquarius
7. Aries
8. Leo
9. Libra
10. Sagittarius
11. Scorpio [and Capricorn in last position as the best drivers]

Is this what you would have expected? There is something else fascinating about this list.

The folks at SunCorp would have no way of knowing it but, Capricorn to the side, the signs in the last two positions and first two positions are the exact opposite. This tells us a great deal about polarities, doesn’t it? Scorpio is opposite Taurus and Sagittarius is opposite Gemini.

Sagittarians may stay safe in their cars the same way they do in life, by having superbly developed higher minds (Ninth House). Another name for this mind is intuition. The highly developed sense of flow and good timing characteristic of Sagittarians is what makes them the lucky sign. Furthermore, their minds are right at home dealing with traffic patterns, flow and spatial relations.

Scorpios, on the other hand, may stay safe because they are intimately involved with the inner lives of others in the same way their opposite sign Taurus is defended against this information. Scorpios are sensitive to energy – whether it is a foot away or thousands of miles away -- and can feel someone “coming up from behind” at many different levels. Scorpios know if you’ve had a fight with your wife the night before or if you’re thinking about embezzling or having an affair with your best friend’s husband. That’s why we always feel like they can see right through us. They can.

Scorpios would be the drivers who would instinctively “wake up” in time to let a cocaine addict pass them at 95 or give a wide berth to a passive aggressive soccer mom hassling two kids in the back seat and a phone conversation with her husband all at the same time.

Where does your sign fall in this survey? Whatever your sun sign, let’s all learn from this survey and be safe on the road.

Author's Bio: 

Nancy R. Fenn has been a professional astrologer in the San Diego area for over 25 years.