Poor driving or poor manners?

This is one of those areas where the difference in the sexes is highlighted or played down. Man or woman, anger is a problem. And road rage? Even more a deadly expression... errhh... I won't say that again. It is something that shouldn't be expressed while on ramming machine speeding at 100kmph.

Time for some diversion.

Read on...

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Women are calmer drivers? Not when I'm behind the wheel

Road rage is just as much a problem for mums as it is for dads

by Erin Baker
The Daily Telegraph

"Calm down," I mutter, as I ease my car between the bus lane and the fat SUV that's trying to force me into it.

"Calm down," I repeat, as the traffic light turns green but I can't move because there's an idiot in a van blocking the junction.

"Calm down!" I shriek, as another idiot in a BMW, who knows he's in the wrong lane but reckons he can carve me up, edges forward.

Invariably, the mantra wears a bit thin about half an hour into my morning commute.

By the time I arrive at work, my blood is fairly fizzing. You see, I'm not very good at handling road rage.

Just ask my mother - she's still sweating from the time we had to drive at speed around the supermarket car park, slaloming through the trolleys to escape a large and surprisingly fleet-footed man whom I had called a "bloody idiot" for honking at her when she tried to reverse into a space.

So, I find it hard to believe that women are statistically less likely to succumb to road rage than men.

However, a survey this week of children aged between five and 16 found more than half think they have a calmer, safer journey when their mother is driving.

Fathers are accused of being more aggressive and driving too fast.

This, despite the fact that seven out of 10 children said their mothers were more likely to stall the car when pulling away from a junction, and 64 per cent claimed that reverse parking was beyond Mummy's capabilities. Ouch.

Most of the children questioned about road rage won't realise that low speed doesn't always equate to safety (few adults seem to get this point, either).

It might feel safer to have Mummy sing a song with you while pottering down the road at 40kmh in a 60kmh zone, but Daddy's more aggressive progress could be more appropriate for the road conditions. That's why it's female drivers who incite my road rage more than male ones.

At least men know they're carving you up. Women, generally, have no idea of the chaos they're leaving behind.

It's not that we're less intelligent than men - and we're certainly more capable of multi-tasking. It seems we just can't be bothered.

Take that puerile "Baby on Board" sticker, for example.

You know the one: It makes you want to jump out at the lights, knock on the window and say: "I was about to ram your car from behind, but thank goodness I saw the sticker."

How many men would display that sign?

There's a difference, too, when it comes to how we exhibit our road rage.

Mothers aren't any calmer behind the wheel than fathers - they're simply more subtle. Instead of shouting and swearing, we silently seethe, and enact our revenge in more elegant ways (unless you're my friend Jo, whose child's first words, picked up after months of her driving, were "****ing moron").

Instead of shouting at Mr Carve-You-Up, a canny woman will beat him away from the lights, thus forcing him to drop in behind, then briefly slow down to make her point.

She will inch up alongside the SUV that is hogging her space because the driver has no lane discipline, thus alarming him/her into shifting back into the right lane.

Far more satisfying than a list of expletives.

Given that road rage affects both sexes - but in rather different ways - the real cause for concern should be the behaviour that incites it.

As a spokesman from the breakdown coverage company that carried out the survey said: "Kids exposed to poor driving could ... copy this action when they start to drive themselves."

That's "poor driving", not "poor manners".

Road hogs take note.


Lifted from TODAY, Commentary - Friday, 30-April-2010
Women are calmer drivers? Not when I'm behind the wheel
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Goodness gracious...

Image via Wikipedia

Will this ever end? I don't think so. Each generation has its own ungracious people…
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by Joanne Leow, joanneleow@channelnewsasia.com

05:55 AM Jun 20, 2009

IF YOU are a mother who takes public transport, chances are that you have had experiences similar to this one: You are on the bus or train, struggling with your bags, the baby and the pram ... you make your way to the priority seating and there is an able-bodied person already sitting there who refuses to make eye-contact.

I have had cases where the person pretended to be sleeping while I stood in front of them and even worse, when I was about five months pregnant, I gave up my seat for someone who was eight months pregnant.

It is very hard for me to understand the inconsiderate behaviour that occurs on our public transport and even harder for me to think about how this could possibly be changed.

Which is why I was particularly interested when Gerard Ee, chairman of the Public Transport Council, dropped by to talk about the latest "graciousness programme" that is being implemented.

Gerard was optimistic about the campaign, saying: "It's very light-hearted, we have used the popular figures of Phua Chu Kang and Rosie. And by making it lighthearted, you don't put people on the defensive. The guilty ones will know who they are but they don't want to be preached to ... We want to make it a fun thing and maybe the message might hit home."

My scepticism remains though - can this programme succeed where others like the National Courtesy Campaign have barely made a dent in the level of graciousness in our society?

Gerard pointed out though, that the National Courtesy Campaign has had some benefits: "People don't notice it, but on our roads, fewer motorists sound their horns. Ten years ago, everyone was just pressing their horn and telling people to get out of the way ... I think we have made progress, but we have a long way to go."

Unfortunately, the disillusioned pragmatist in me points to the success of disabled parking lots. Just why are those clearly labelled lots so psychologically off limits to able-bodied drivers even in the most crowded of car parks? We all know the answer to that - it's backed up by laws.

Can we make sitting in a priority seat an offence if you're able-bodied? I see where the authorities are coming from when they shy away from this idea. Think about the costs of enforcement and administering a fines system.

As for me? After I've spent a few times struggling with toddler and infant in tow, I caved in and bought a small car. While I sometimes feel guilty about not being more environmentally-friendly, I do not miss having to deal with the rudeness that I've encountered so often. Perhaps I've given up on my fellow Singaporeans, it is nice to know though that others like Gerard haven't.

From TODAY, News – Weekend, 20/21-Jun-2009; see the source article here.