Being The Butt Of Bad Driving Jokes Makes You An Asshole...

"J. Drew Silvers" (drewcoustic) 11/03/2014 at 09:18 • Filed to: Opposite Blog, Safety, OppoBlog, Driving Habits

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I know my title sounds a bit harsh, but I have given this subject quite a bit of thought over the past week and finding a more “appropriate” set of words to string together wouldn’t get the point across. Yes, I believe that anyone who is the butt of jokes about bad driving automatically falls into the category of being not only an asshole, but also inconsiderate.

We’ve all had a friend or family member who we casually laugh about because they brake at the last second, have abnormally high car insurance due to all of the collisions they have caused, or based upon a new dent showing up on their vehicle every week. The question is, should we really be laughing? The answer is: “no”.

I’m not on some soapbox right now, because I have made the same jokes about people I know in the past and thought nothing of it until I realized that bad drivers actually injure and kill good drivers. I’m a regular at a restaurant near my house and was eating dinner when one of the hostesses was talking to me and said she was soon to be seventeen and “had” to get her license. When I asked her why she didn’t have it yet, she said:

“I don’t think I’m ready. I haven’t driven very much.”

Apparently, her mother had told her she needed to get her license because she didn’t want to taxi her other (younger) daughter around anymore. When I asked the girl if she thought she was a good driver, she said “no” but made mention that she didn’t have a choice. I hope I’m wrong, but it seems like she is being set up to be one of those “Haha, she sucks at driving.” jokes.

America has a massive driving culture and as a result, when I was a teenager there was nothing else I wanted more than to drive a car on the road. On the flip side of this, I also understand there are people who don’t take driving as seriously as I did, develop personal logic at different times, and also come into a sense of maturity and responsibility a little later than others. If someone doesn’t care about driving and they are either forced into it or feel obligated to do so, they usually (in my opinion) end up being bad drivers. One small example is people who park like this and don’t take the time to correct it:

I actually heard this woman get out of her car and say to her friend:

“If I try to fix it, I will probably make it worse.”

Why, though, do I say that the people who are the center of bad driving jokes are assholes? Because when we make jokes about their horrible driving habits, they accept that as a misguided flaw and tend to live with it as a characteristic instead of trying to improve on said fault. The more we joke about the fact that they run into inanimate objects, bump into other cars, run stop signs, neglect maintenance on their vehicle, obtain numerous moving violations, the more they say:

“Well, that’s just who I am. I am not a good driver.”

However, if you think about this whole issue logically and in a way which is applicable to their professional or personal life, it hits a little closer to home. Meaning, if you don’t perform well at your job because you refuse to grow your skill set and do better all around, you will get fired or demoted - quickly. If you contract an illness and decide you don’t feel like treating it properly, your condition will probably worsen or you’ll pass it onto someone else. But if you are reckless and neglectful when it comes to driving? You probably won’t get caught by law enforcement very often, but even if you do, you can usually wiggle your way out of most serious consequences this side of vehicular manslaughter if you open your wallet a little.

The older I get, the more I figure out that your life is much better and fulfilling if you allow yourself to grow and continually try to improve yourself as well as your habits. I know that most of the world claims to do just that but don’t tend to actually put forth the effort because settling in is the much easier option. Just remember that every time you reinforce the bad driver stereotype on someone, the more it hinders them from believing it to be a trait they can overcome. The more they hear it, the more they accept it, the more they ignore the people around them who are also driving, and the more they just look like (are) an asshole to everyone else on the road. Actually, if I’m honest, being the person who laughs at a situation where someone is driving a vehicle down the road questionably on a daily basis and could potentially kill an innocent person makes you an asshole as well.

Don’t be that person, and don’t let anyone you know think that their driving skills are anything to joke about. Take some time to help them improve their skills instead. You could save my life or your own from their negligence.

Grace and Peace,

-Drew

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > J. Drew Silvers 11/02/2014 at 13:01

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I had a friend in high school call me a bad driver, because I got pulled over...ONCE, and because I thought I pulled out in front of people too late. My rule of thumb is if they don't have to slow down and they aren't on my bumper, it isn't too late. He was serious about this. This said friend has rear ended 3 cars and has been pulled over countless times because the officer thought he was drunk, because he was swerving around not paying attention. Is bad enough when you are the butt of the joke, but when you don't realize you are the joke...

jvirgs drives a Subaru > J. Drew Silvers 11/02/2014 at 13:11

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OPPOsaurus WRX > J. Drew Silvers 11/03/2014 at 09:49

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i think you said in there but the words are just drooling out of my eyes as I need another coffee but this should be universal for everything in life. Imagine where we'd be (as a country/specie) if we helped each other instead of putting each other down every chance we get (and then shooting each other when we disagree but i think thats a whole nuther post) good job

Destructive Tester > J. Drew Silvers 11/03/2014 at 10:06

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I saw a perfect example of aggressively bad driving Saturday morning. A car is waiting in the turn lane to make a left turn into a parking lot, there is also a car waiting to make a left turn out of said parking lot. As the car leaving the street started to turn, he/she was cut-off by the car leaving the parking lot who proceeded to lay on the horn and flip-off the driver who actually had the right of way. Said asshole proceeded to cut me off (by crossing 2 lanes, without signaling), it was a truly amazing display of shitty driving...

J. Drew Silvers > Destructive Tester 11/03/2014 at 10:11

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"I was here first, so it's my turn.". Grade school logic doesn't apply to adult life sometimes.

Bryan doesn't drive a 1M > J. Drew Silvers 11/03/2014 at 13:41

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Yep, this is exactly right. Unfortunately there are a lot of assholes out there. Assholes who spread germs, assholes who don't improve anything about themselves, and even assholes who just like to be assholes for the sake of it. The bad driver assholes are most likely assholes in other aspects of their life too, we just don't usually get the pleasure of getting to know them that well.

rudyH > J. Drew Silvers 06/06/2015 at 15:08

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The opposite can also be true though right? Those who are the best drivers in the world?

Dake > J. Drew Silvers 06/06/2015 at 16:05

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You have managed to articulate (far better than I) the frustration I feel every time a commercial comes on for a new car with all the additional warning capabilities. You know the commercials where the people are tired, distracted, or flat out oblivious and the only thing preventing them from causing an accident and injuring an innocent bystander/other driver is the car warns them?

THESE PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE DRIVING! They should not require a car to tell them to stop texting, check their freakin’ mirrors and drive the damn car!

Anyway, you’re right on the money. We wouldn’t accept a similar excuse in any number of other circumstances and most of those don’t involve piloting a multi-ton hunk of steel, aluminum, plastic, and glass at high speed.

J. Drew Silvers > Dake 06/06/2015 at 16:10

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I mean, it’s like you could consider a car a deadly weapon or something? Logic. We need more of that.

Kylemaro > J. Drew Silvers 06/06/2015 at 16:20

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i know this is a year old post but i’m going to comment anyway

i’m on my way back to ohio from charlotte. i’m in the fast lane (there are three to choose from) both of the lanes to the left of me are fairly empty its around 1:00 pm and i’m somewhere in VA WV not sure. some jackass in a white gmc yukon pulls out a good ways ahead of me to pass noone because both lanes are free for some distance ahead of him. now i’m only going about 96 miles an hour in my silverado (i wanna fucking get home that day, excuse my horrible rate of travel which felt completely safe to me because its the interstate and not laguna fucking seca) anyway as i’m coming up on him fairly quickly i flash my lights on and then off again (universal please move over, faster vehicle coming through sign) he doesn’t, he proceeds to brake check me, not once, not twice, but three times! now i’m pissed. not only because he brake checked me and made me slow down and use my brakes and convert momentum into wasted heat, but because hes being a complete ass and uneccesarily endangering anyone on the road aorund him when he gets a big old social justice warrior boner going and decides its his duty as an american to impede my progress. finally after i lay on the horn and damn near push him for a 1/4 mile he moves over (was that so fucking hard) i mash the gas and power past him (gotta love that 408 stroker motor) and as i go buy he flips me the bird ME! because i was the asshole who created a problem, by going fast in the fast lane. NOW i know! people are gonna comment and say “oh you were wrong you shouldn’t speed, you shouldn’t have tailgated him, you should’ve just gone around him” well i’m sorry but they teach this shit in drivers ed. you don’t go slow in the fast lane and if there are faster cars behind you let them pass you. thats the goddamn rules. its people like that ass who cause accidents and dammit if we had traffic laws in place as strict as the ones in germany (autobahn lane laws are nothing to fuck with, you block a speeder and end up with a 2-3000 dollar ticket and then tell me you were in the right, asshole) there’d be alot less traffic fatalities. dammit driving is serious business and it needs to be respected like it.

Jugstopper > J. Drew Silvers 06/07/2015 at 11:42

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Asshole! (am it doing it right?)

SoTrue55 > J. Drew Silvers 07/15/2015 at 20:59

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Most women are very Pathetic drivers today due to Tailgating.