Monday, April 28, 2008

Are Cars Made for Men?

Now anyone who knows me knows that I rarely attribute all the things wrong in my life to men. However, this weekend while driving to Lancaster, this question occurred to me: are cars made for men? All of you must have heard the stereotype of the bad woman driver. What if there is a scientific reason for that?

I find that when a traffic light changes from red to green, I go a split second later than other cars. I also do not get up to speed very fast. And I drive much better with a certain pair of shoes than with others. Then it occurred to me: I do all these things because I lift my foot off the gas to apply the brake and vice-versa. Gregg never has to do that: he simply swivels his foot from gas to brake and back. But in spite of having exceptionally large feet as evidenced by my size 8 ½ shoes, I cannot get enough traction by simply swiveling from one to the other.

Is this a problem for other women or am I just a horrible driver?
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Things I Learnt About Myself on My Drive:

1) I HATE following someone – in this case, it was Gregg driving a U-Haul with our second car trailing it. I feel like I have to watch that car and everything around me at the same time
2) I do not know how to make a 3-point turn – mine was a 4.5 turn. Back up, turn, back up, turn, back…turn now.
3) I LOVE listening to music while driving. I tend to get happy and sad according to what I am listening to.
4) I do not like people passing me too much – do it enough and I will cut people off.

1 comment:

Betty said...

Even though women in big SUVs can be pretty scary, I find that men seem to be meaner drivers. Chicago drivers here are so mean and impatient. I'm even outside city limits and I have people tailing me in residential roads that are 25 mph limit.

The 3 point turn depends on where you are. Some roads are too tight for a three point turn. Also, some cars don't turn very well. Corey's mom has a little sports car and it cannot make sharp turns at all.

Driving just takes time. After a year or two, you'll feel much more comfortable.

I do miss the days of driving home to New York on I95 and chatting with you the whole way there.