Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences
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Why do most bad drivers seem to be Asian? I like to think I am a non-bigoted, non-sterotyping person, yet this is the one area I fail at. Everytime I see someone not following the law in a car or displaying an obvious lack of understanding of the rules of the road, or even just a total disrespect or obliviousness to other cars and pedestrians, the driver is almost always Asian. Why is this?
Original Code R648. Click here to see responses from the original archives. Click “to respond” below to reply.User Detail :
Name : DM31841, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 26, City : Vancouver, British Columbia, State : NA, Country : Canada,I cannot drive here in North America. It will take me at least another year to get comfortable with everything on the ‘wrong’ side of the road. Asia entirely drives on the left. Instinctively when crossing the road, you ‘look to the left then look to the right.’ The cars are backward, and the driver’s side is confused with the passenger side. The pedals are different and the instinct to hit the turn indicator is too late to correct the windshield wiper going off. Try driving on the left after spending a lifetime doing the exact opposite.
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Name : Niti, City : Pittsburgh, State : PA, Country : United States,It is a myth that Asians are not good drivers. But to me, blacks drive the worst. What’s more, if you check with someone who works in the auto insurance industry, you will find out that Asians have the lowest rate of auto accidents.
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Name : Pinny, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Age : 19, City : Stockton, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,A student in the course on race that I teach just asked about this stereotype. I always suspected it was that sort of self-fulfilling stereotype, where every bad white driver (and there are, of course, lots of them) gets forgotten, and any bad Asian driver just confirms the stereotype. But where’s the stereotype come from? I hadn’t prepared for this question, so off the top of my head I asked students to list the _stereotypical_ qualities associated first with Asians, then with driving. For Asians, (we had studied ‘orientalism’ the week before), their list included passive, feminine, and obedient/ law-abiding. What do cars mean in our society? Their list included aggressive, masculine, and bad-boy/ James Dean. What do you see? They’re complete opposites! So, just as women are stereotypically bad drivers (even though in fact their statistically safer drivers) Asians are stereotyped as being unsuited for the macho, sexy, high-speed, rough and tough job of driving. Notice that (1) Asians aren’t supposedly bad at using any other machinery, like computers, but if the old, ‘well, they’re from poor or rural places that don’t use cars’ argument were true, the stereotype wouldn’t be about driving (which any 16-year-old can learn to do in a couple of Sundays), but about, say, programming, or using VCRs or answering machines. Also, (2) the stereotype doesn’t apply to other immigrants, plenty of whom come from places that drive less than North Americans. The stereotype sounds like bunk to me.
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Name : Greg, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 29, City : Philadelphia, State : PA, Country : United States, Occupation : adjunct professor, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,It is the same in San Francisco. Of all bad drivers (pensive, oblivious, not following rules), a disproportionate number seem to be Asian. I have made a concious effort to notice the bad driving first, then observe the apparent ethnicity of the driver. Literally nine times out of ten, the bad driver is Asian and I know San Francisco is not 90% Asian. I’m not trying to be offensive. In the spirit of this forum, I’m trying to ascertain the real reason behind this phenomenon. Does anyone have any ideas about this (other than I’m bigoted)?
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Name : Mike, Gender : M, Age : 31, City : San Francisco, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Student,I think that being asian and driving poorly does have some coralation. I must admit I am asian and am a horrible driver, I don’t know if it is necessarily that I can’t see all the traffic signs and cars because of my squinty eyes or maybe because there is usually 7 people trying to fit in my Toyota it’s hard to compensate for the weight. Just joking about that….except I am asian and don’t have a single point on my license.
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Name : daniel, Gender : M, Race : Asian, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 22, City : indianapolis, State : IN, Country : United States, Occupation : hospitality, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,While Asian is an all encomposing term I have noticed that in general there is a truth in the question. There seems to an inability to understand what is going on around them. Traffic may be going 50mph around them yet they will drive at 30 for instiance and be oblivous to everthing around.
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Name : ssloan, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Seventh-Day Adventist, Age : 56, City : Moreno Valley, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : wharehouse, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,
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