Ok, as I was leaving a parking lot of a grocery store, some soccer mom in an SUV decides to just back out w/o even looking behind and it was only because I honked my horn that a collision was avoided by mere inches.

What is up with these soccer moms in SUVs?

What's going on in their heads?

Making dinner ? Picking up kids?

Jesus christ, they should be banned from driving - i'm serious !!

That's like second time in that parking lot that i've come close to being hit :bang: :angry:

 

Don't stereotype :nono:

 

Stereotypes exist and are perpetuated because there is some degree of truth to them. While not everyone may fit a certain sterotype about them, there are many people who do. It is human nature to categorize things based on experience, and it is no different with the way we assign categories to people in our everyday lives. This is one way in which we make it through life, by preparing ourself for what will happen based upon what has happened before. While every woman who drives an SUV may not fit the oblivious soccer mom sterotype, enough do for it the stereotype to be perptuated. If the sterotype was completely false, it would have never come into existance in the first place.

 

I think it depends on where you are. Stereotypes DO work because many people residing in a specific place behave under the social constraints set forth by those around them.

I live an hour outside of Charleston. A specific area of Charleston - Mt. Plesant, is the yuppy hang out of the millenia. It's where all of the yuppy "soccer moms" and wanna-be yuppies live and hang out. It's also full of delinquant teenagers. I HATE driving there. Women drive tanks in their tank commander mode. They CONSTANTLY have a cell phone up to their ear, and this is no stereotype. These women fit the mold time and time again.

Their order of operations when leaving a store is something like this:
1) Open the car and get in
2) Place the key in the ignition and start the car
3) Pick up the cell phone and place an arbitrary call
4) Place the car into reverse
5) Without checking mirrors, slam on the gas and full throdle reverse

It happens countless times every day. All you can do is be defensive. So how is this NOT stereotyping? Drive an hour away from that mess and out into the country where I live. Folks drive slowly for the most part. They drive beat up old pickup trucks with gun racks, bubbling purple tint, and leaking exhaust systems. They are the salt of the earth, just as you'd imagine, and guess what? No soccer moms! It's a different flavor of stereotype, but they both work in the context of the social surrounding.

So... I agree with the funtionality of stereotyping AND I agree with the loonacy of these ideot drivers. It's the way of human life.

 

Probably was too busy on the phone!

 

stereotyping works, so does profiling. Finding a fine line before falling into prejudice is difficult however. ACLU + hard line conservatives = a good balance
soccer moms are a sad (and dangerous) fact of our driving lives
Being a woman and driving a minivan to pickup your kids from a soccer practice doesn't make you a soccer mom. Driving carelessly to pickup your kids does.

 

Better story...


Sitting at a light friday afternoon. I was 2nd behind a Soccom Mom in a Town and country in left lane. Light turns green and we start up the hill. Just before we reach the top Soccer Mom slams on her brakes. I hit mine (I was not following close) and the motorcycle behind who is NOT paying attention has to dirt bike it past me and the now stoped van. Cars in the right lane are speeding by us. I can't see past her but since she stopped just shy of the top of the hill and this road has lot's of construction I figure a cone has fell over in her lane or their is something that's blocking the road. All the cars in the right lane are now gone and so are the ones that were behind me in the left lane. I ease in the clutch and let it roll back to give me a little more room as I go around her to the right. All I need is for her to decide to jump in the right lane. Well as I go by I notice there is NOTHING in front of her....I mean nothing but an empty 2 lane road. I look into my side view mirror and what I see is incredible...so incredible I lower the window and jam my head out to look back..... :shock:

The reason she stopped in a congested road with traffic and lot's of construction...TO DIG IN HER POCKETBOOK. :scratch:

She is digging thru it like a crackhead that found $20.....and out comes.....

Her cellphone.....

She answers and reaches over to put the van back in drive...

that's when I go so disgusted I nailed 2nd to catch up with the rest of the drivers and put some distance between me and "Van Lady"...

Jay


Jay

 

:scratch: some people shouldn't be allowed to drive, that story would make me really mad if I didn't have my licence.

 

Honestly, if we start stereotyping every group based on someone causing us to take defensive action, then pretty much nobody should be allowed to drive! I'm sure each and everyone of us fit into some sort of group that people complain about. Heck, I'll make an assumption that we all drive Mustangs. Many people feel that those that drive sports cars are reckless drivers. So really, you had one person that didn't pay attention, and you had to avoid an accident. I'm glad you did. If we all learn to drive defensivly, we can help out those that occassionally have a lapse in judgement. My 2 cents. B)

 

 

It's true, we live in a society where we talk out of both sides of our mouth. People want neighborhoods to be crime free, but when cops "profile" the types of people that typically commit crimes, they get blasted for it. If you don't have anything to hide, it shouldn't matter! I for one, stereotype all kinds of drivers. Soccer moms, ricers, elderly, average people. They all play into my decisions on the roads!

 

If soccer moms want to stop being stereotyped, then they should stop talking on their cell phones and stop applying makeup while driving. They should learn how to drive straight, stop tailgating, and learn to use their turn signals. But most of all, they should learn that the whole world DOESN'T revolve around them and their SUV/minivan. Sorry, I and many other friends I know who've had WAY too many close calls with these bon-bon eating beasts.

Besides, who the heck are you or anyone to tell me who I should and shouldn't be wary of on the roadway? That's my choice, not anyone else's.

I do feel bad for the ones who drive carefully, though. They're in the minority, but their reputation is sullied by the actions of another.

 

Hey,

I'll chime in here because here in So. Cal., there is no shortage of SUV bimbos, cell phones, make-up, etc.

I'm particularly cautious of them while on my motorbike, 'cause there ain't no thing as a fender bender on a bike! I feel tempted to rip the phone off their ear and shove it up their tailpipe! I wish they'd ban cell phones while driving, period, but I just don't see that happening.

 

What "OBleedingMe" said !!!!

 

I totally understand the need to stereotype.

Motorcyclists are always weaving in and out of traffic, so naturally none of them can drive.

Forget about anybody under the age of 35, they just don't respect the law, and have very little experience.

Those over 55 naturally can't drive, they don't have the reflexes for it.

I always avoid anyone with CA, NY or NJ license plates. It's well known they can't drive, most are commuters anyway.

While we're at it, let's remove ANY out of state license plate, out of staters can't drive.

Beware of the in state ones, also. Texans all carry guns!

Oh, and the final group...those that have a real problem with punctuation and spelling. Lets face it, if you can't do anything that rudimentary, should you really be driving?

Maybe we should all just stay inside.

 

Great post.

 

Great avatar