by Rob Hearn on Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:05 pm
I believe it wholeheartedly. There has never been any doubt in my mind that women are more often than men incompetent. They hardly ever give the little wave to acknowledge a kindness, they often fail to indicate, they park on the 'Keep clear' bit of the roundabout at the south street end of bell street and look flustered when I glare at them, and, yes, it takes them on average about 12 times longer than men to execute a parallel parking manoeuvre, and during the process they have approximately the same air of panic that I had during my driving test.
Does this mean that if you are female you can't become a master driver? No. Nobody is constrained in such matters by their genes, or at least not significantly. I'm quite sure that every female driver I know is capable of being a better driver than me. However, in reality, they are all much shitter, and the males I know are about the same as me.
Men are indisputably worse drivers in the grander scheme. Men do most of the killing, and write off the most cars. We know that men and women, on average, drive differently. That's why they have different insurance levels, and it's why 'female owner' is significant in a car ad. If I could choose one sex to be the designated driver, it would be female. However, when somebody infuriates me on the road by being absent-minded or inconsiderate, it's usually a female - and when it's not, it's an old person.
Of *extreme* significance in the above post are qualifiers like 'usually'. I state for the record that my girlfriend is an exemplary driver. And to any girls (or boys) who are about to get insensed all over my face: so are you, I was talking about someone else.
"I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of. And the things I am proud of, are disgusting."