Sunday, June 15, 2008

Lady drivers

Have you found yourself stuck behind a lady driver, after a hectic work and you can’t wait to arrive home to have a good rest? The lady, who was obviously a first timer to park at a parking bays of an office building, apparently not familiar with her surroundings. She was with her colleague, chitchatting, probably to share her worries of first time to park her car here. She abruptly stopped by to ask a security guard where the way out is while you can clearly see the exit sign just beside her. And then she needs to reverse her car since she needs to ambik side to turn right (whereas she’s driving a Kelisa! She should not face that difficulty right?), and she makes you have to reverse your car a bit too since you are too near, while a few cars are already waiting behind you.

(my assumption on the rationale of the lady’s act : the lady just want to make sure she’s heading to the right situation, maybe her life motto is `malu bertanya, sesat jalan’. Or maybe she thought her car is big, so in order to avoid scratch and get on the divider, she might as well reverse her car a bit)

When she reached the pay post, she just handed her ticket and waited for the man to tell her how much she needs to pay, whereas it is obvious the parking area has a flat rate. When she was told the exact amount, she spend about ten minutes to reached her hand bag at the bag seat, took out everything inside her bag in search of small change but found none, and reached back again for her wristlet pulak, and finally found a RM5 bill.
She handed the bill to the parking assistant. At this stage I expect that she will drop the money and miserably had to open the door and pick it up back, but thank God it does not happen.

(my assumption: this is her first time parking here, and she put her handbag at the back seat so that she don’t have to bother her colleague to hold it for her. She might as well forget that she put her small change in her wristlet, which she always brought with her for lunch, not her handbag. Thus that explained the fuss)

After that, we joined a long queue of people going out to the main road, all impatient to reach home. The lady I observed was deep in conversation with her colleague, perhaps updating the latest gossip in the office, you know with hand gestures and giggles. She reached her bag and tried to find something in her bag, while not noticing the car in front of her moved a few moments ago and she kept another ten cars waiting for her to move. At this stage I think it is the most suitable time for me to honk her. This made her jumped and quickly pulls away, towards the wrong lane. Luckily other drivers were generous enough to give her way so that she can get back to the right lanes. I sighed.

(my assumption: she was deep in conversation in the most important detail of her life, like the boss’ mismatch clothes or a staff having affair with another staff at different department, things like that. And she might on the way to show her colleague the picture of her loved ones, thus she reached for her handbag. The front car was not moving anyway, so what’s wrong with her action, right?)

In different occasion, when you found an extremely slow car at the right lane, or when you are generous enough to give way for a car to get into your lane but the driver is hesitant or take too long to get in, it is always not surprise to see that a lady driver is involve in this. Also in quite opposite manner, you can see daring lady drivers who drive too fast, cutting queues, and seboleh-boleh not letting you to get in her lane with furious look on her face. These ladies usually come with sunglasses and a smug.

(my assumption : the lady think she followed the maximum allowable kmph thus she deserve to drive at the right lane. Other cars that are faster than her were breaking the rules. Also when a driver give signal to change lanes, she is not too sure she can move in, or scared that the car will not give way. So it’s better to stay the safe distance. For the daring ones, well maybe they observed too mane similar driving techniques by the men, so why not doing one by herself anyway? Lady drivers rule!)

Also, when you come across a very unlikely accident, like crashing into a roundabout or a divider (it is a divider to avoid crash, mind you!), or a pavement at the edge of a parking lot when the driver try to park. Usually you will find miserable ladies on the phone, trying to get help from someone on the scene.

(my assumption : Ladies are naturally not good in estimating the exact distance, or they observe that the pavement or divider was not there at the first place! Duh)

I am a lady driver too, and I’m not discriminating my own gender in this matter but I can’t help to feel irritated too once in a while. I tried to have 360º views and try to understand why guys always have these exact views on lady drivers. Well guys, you might want to understand the lady’s situation at the first place. And ladies, we can always improve our driving skills by being more alert and observant of our surroundings.
By the way this is just a general view, there are excellent lady drivers on the road as well, and a lot of reckless and mean man drivers too. It’s not about the gender difference but more on personal attitude while driving.

Afterall, buckle your seat belt and drive safely! :)

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