Driving can be a very liberating and enjoyable experience provided you are driving on empty roads or by the country side and you are not being judged on your skills for simply being a woman. Traffic lately has become crazy and it's not easy driving in urban areas these days. There's a great number of female drivers these days but the perceptions towards them generally remain the same.It's very funny to see the prejudiced attitudes some men have adopted towards women on the roads. When they see a female driver coming along, they either stop dead in their tracks/keep their distance, let the woman pass (you never know she might manage to damage your car!) or at the other end of the spectrum they put you through all the tests lest you weren't tested enough before being handed out your driving licence.
Yes driving in this world with all the prejudiced minds and eyes around is no less of a feat for us women. In fact it can be more of a boot camp session for those who have newly taken the wheels to the road.
I hate to say this but some of the prejudices are justified, at times. I don't mean to imply anything on the women's driving skills. Many of the women are darn good drivers (I wouldn't be writing this if I wasn't one too;) ).
(Some) women can be very bad and slow with some stuff like over taking other cars (causing lines to form behind them), reverse parking a car and having to cross a busy road just drains the life out of them! But hey everyone shouldn't be measured on the same scale! I know a lot of women who are better at driving then men.
It's true that nature hasn't endowed women with the best of skills when it comes to driving. Studies have shown that the parietal cortex of the brain, which is responsible for controlling spatial perception, is significantly larger in men than in women explaining why men find it so easy to reverse a car and drive through narrow lanes.
It isn't a short coming or a disability, just a difference which should be tolerated (but if differences were meant to be compromised on, wouldn't this world have been a better place!) Yes it can be nerve wrecking to be driving behind an exceptionally slow female driver. The curses the poor ladies get! But then the men won't be very pleased either if you make the mistake of EVER over taking them.
Women generally are more cautious and patient while driving while men tend to be rash and irrational, taking unnecessary risks. Men have 77% more chances of dying in a road traffic accident than women (now what do you have to say to that!).The most poor women do is hit the car into a pole while reversing it or scratch it with a wall when attempting to park in the garage.
Men are always being so skeptical about women driving (so typical) but they themselves can be no less of an annoyance to women too and other men in general.
Let me prove my point by dissecting for you a few male psyches I have observed on the roads over the years and a few handling tactics to go along with them :) :
1. The Cool Dude: Regardless of the car he drives, be it a Honda Civic or an ancient Suzuki Fx, he thinks he's the best thing to ever have hit the roads. Over take his car or cut in front of him, he might think you are trying to hit on him (sheesh!!!). Make the mistake of getting ahead of him and see the ridiculous extent he will go to overtake your car and prove his (so called) male supremacy. Overly inflated egos and easily bruised too.
BEST TACTIC: Ignore him!
2. The Daredevil Motorcyclists: Used to pity them the most but somehow they have ended up being somewhat loathed. Very unpredictable. You never know whats running through their minds. They zig-zag their way between lanes (very annoying!) and will cut in front of you out of nowhere! The most unnerving thing is when they try to get their way across through crevices between lanes at a red signal to get to the front. Stop your car very close to the car next to you or expect a few heedless scratches on your car from reckless biker.
BEST TACTIC: When driving, it's better to have a motorbike at the back of you rather than the front!
3. The Ruffian;Cab/Van Driver: They drive the most tattered of vehicles having the least of concerns for the cars they drive to the cars around them. They are determined to get their way around be it by denting and scratching away your car or by simply running over it! Since their vehicles are already in such shambles, they don't really care what happens to THEIR cars or to others' for that matter. An utter nuisance and ugly specks on the roads (you got to see the cabs in Rawalpindi/Islamabad to understand what I mean)! The rickshaws of Lahore and the Tongas and Qingis else where fall into this category.
BEST TACTIC: Spotted a van/cab?? Make a run for it! It's wise to keep the distance!
4. The Uncles are just UNCLES!!!: They can be driving the dingiest of Corrolas to the fanciest of Prados. Whatever the car model they move around very guarded as they are confused about whether they are more capable of hurting or getting hurt. Curse aunties the most but pretty much can be aunties themselves. If you are stuck in a long, slow moving line, cursing in your head "might me an aunty!", drive to the front and you'll find much to your dismay/satisfaction (many of the times) an uncle contemplating a u-turn! Most oblivious to the stares, the glares and the honking cars around them, they drive with (as they say in Urdu) apni dhoon mei mast ho kay! (lost in world of their own).
BEST TACTIC: Let them be!
Once you get the hang of these dominantly prevalent psyches, it's fun to get your way around. And YES you HAVE to get your way around ("ladies first" theory is old story) otherwise you will be left waiting at the crossroads the whole day long!
Finally cheers to all the ladies out their for making the best of their thicker and smaller parietal lobes. The hooligans the men become on spotting a woman behind the wheels, it's no less than driving in the planet of apes!
Disclaimer: No personal offence intended at anybody. This whole thing was formulated out of pure fun and pleasure and is to be taken in the same light. Be safe. Happy driving.
