# Asians are so bad at driving I **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 20, 2012, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asians-are-so-bad-at-driving-i/638313 "2012-10-20T10:04:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asians-are-so-bad-at-driving-i/638313/41 "2012-10-23T15:00:08Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > The day I arrived in Bali (the guidebooks all warn you not to rent a car because you will die in a firey car wreck, rather they suggest you hire a driver and car, which doesn’t really cost more than renting a car), I learned that Balinese drivers are all insane. Terrible psychotic drivers, every last one of 'em with a death wish. > > I was particularly terrified by the “family moped” - little tiny motorcycles with, I’m not kidding here, a family of 5 on one bike. Dad in front driving, mom sitting sidesaddle in a skirt (sarong) behind him, children on her lap, baby in a sling on her back, and they’re going 65 miles an hour on crappy roads with cars and buses whizzing by inches from her knees. She never even flinches. > > By the time I left 2 weeks later, I realized they’re actually excellent drivers in a system that’s just so freaking different from mine, I couldn’t do it. They’re so…zen about impending firey death that somehow never pans out because cars just…dance around each other, floating free at the final moment… > > Seriously, 2 weeks of aggressive driving on mountainsides with sheer cliffs and one lane roads with hairpin turns, and the only accident we witnessed was a tour bus that just fell over because there were too many people on top. No injuries. That’s actually some pretty good driving, if you think about it. Terrifying drying, but \*good \*driving. When I lived in northern Thailand in the 1980s, I lived in a rather mountainous area. I relied on the buses to get around. The main road was not completely paved at that time, and the “buses” were these rather sturdy, almost tank-like little vehicles. Sheer drops down one side of the road were common. It was often too full to sit inside, and when it was, I would sit up on top, which I actually preferred since I figured I could jump off if and when we started going off the cliff. In all the years I was up there, I never heard of a single one of those falling off the mountain. Lots of private vehicles did, but not the buses. The drivers really did a good job. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asians-are-so-bad-at-driving-i/638313/42 "2012-10-23T18:06:07Z")
There was a Canadian student(he’s Asian) and he made a short movie called “A Chink in the Armor” and he took on several stereotypes of the Asian community. He used his local Asian community as a sample pool. 1. They were fine drivers. 2. They were not very good at math. I forget the other one, but I’m pretty sure he had a third stereotype he was trying to test. I can’t find the movie now. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asians-are-so-bad-at-driving-i/638313/43 "2012-10-23T19:07:14Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I forget the other one, but I’m pretty sure he had a third stereotype he was trying to test. I can’t find the movie now. They have big penises? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asians-are-so-bad-at-driving-i/638313/44 "2012-10-23T20:43:58Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > [Reveeeeeeeeerse auuuuuntie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7o7JGj8bz4) Oh my God. Too big a vehicle, far too little skill, and it takes her half an hour to reverse into a parking space. The video stopped before we saw how good her parking job was after all that. > [@Kenm](#): > > Well, someone [**had to link to it**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKcSZfY1sf4). That’s the one I was trying to find the other day! My husband and I say that all the time while driving now! ---
**Author:** ![taskmgr.exe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@taskmgr.exe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taskmgr.exe)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asians-are-so-bad-at-driving-i/638313/45 "2012-11-26T15:46:09Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Even my Asian-American boyfriend will admit that Asians are bad drives, and I tease him relentlessly for it all the time. > > He makes fun of white people being fat and lazy, so it evens out. You don’t seem to be evening it out. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asians-are-so-bad-at-driving-i/638313/46 "2012-11-26T17:00:55Z")
The thing is, and I say this as an Asian (tho not the kind you are thinking of) Asian drivers are bad. My SO, who is of Chinese descent, feels the same. And we cringe whenever the stereotype is perpetrated, and I admit, when I do make a boneheaded move while driving, I always cringe thinking they are thinking “She’s asian…and a woman to boot.” I try to go out of my way to drive extra safe (and I know I do). But the stereotype stands. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asians-are-so-bad-at-driving-i/638313/47 "2012-11-26T17:05:42Z")
> [@tesseract](#): > > …am starting to think Pearl Harbor was an accident. That’s what a friend posted on Facebook today. Distastefully, most of the other I laughed. I’m asian, so its ok! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asians-are-so-bad-at-driving-i/638313/48 "2012-11-26T17:49:05Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Well, someone [**had to link to it**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKcSZfY1sf4). Loved it! And I’m Asian (or, DWO - Driving While Oriental). I ride motorcycles, and in order to survive on the road you have to develop a sixth sense to predict stupid stuff a driver will likely do, and to spot erratic driving. Often times, the driver is Asian and female. FWIW, my wife is Caucasian and her driving scares the living ship outta me. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asians-are-so-bad-at-driving-i/638313/49 "2012-11-27T10:53:44Z")
You think Chinese drivers are bad? They’re horrible _walkers_, too. They drive exactly how they walk. I’m big enough that I constantly plough through them. They don’t turn their heads. Ever. They have no concept of the space about them; only directly in front of them. Although I have a driver, I’m one of the few foreigners at work who made the effort to get his license. Independence is important. Knowing that no one ever turns his head had made getting through traffic easy. Well, not easy. But predictable. Not predictable either. Possible. That’s the word. I can drive without killing a rich Chinese swerving lanes at 35 km/h in a 50 km/h zone in his Porsche Cayenne. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asians-are-so-bad-at-driving-i/638313/50 "2012-11-27T16:39:24Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > You think Chinese drivers are bad? They’re horrible _walkers_, too. They drive exactly how they walk. I’m big enough that I constantly plough through them. And how about Thai schoolgirls riding down escalators? Now _that’s_ horrible. A gaggle of them will reach the end and just stand there while everyone behind just plows into them. Really. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asians-are-so-bad-at-driving-i/638313/51 "2012-11-27T22:44:31Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > And how about Thai schoolgirls riding down escalators? Now _that’s_ horrible. A gaggle of them will reach the end and just stand there while everyone behind just plows into them. Really. I’d love to see a video of that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asians-are-so-bad-at-driving-i/638313.md?page=2)