Pretty certain he meant it the way I quoted it.

Ah it now makes sense, I did ask him to clarify but I just parsed in my brain when reading your reply he meant fewer wealthy (better educated drivers) as opposed to less wealthy meaning not as wealthy. Thanks for your help.

I read it as less wealthy meaning not as wealthy as well. Funny how ambiguous some sentences can be.

Well it's really that he used the wrong word. "Less wealthy drivers" can't correctly refer to the number of drivers.