Who are the slow drivers on the freeways?

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<p>Thanks for the lecture 123 --- for your information I was moving into an empty carpool lane to avoid one of the very same slow drivers you are complaining about. </p>

<p>One other note, I was actually hit by a car when I was 10 years old while trick-or-treating on Halloween --- by a car that rolled through a stop sign while making right turn on a dark residential street. But I won't hold that guy's problem against you. By the way, the gentlemen who sent me to the hospital spent a little time in the crossbar motel for that move --- so you better be careful when suggesting the California stop should not be enforced.</p>
 
That is precisely the case and issue. Asians were not at fault but were frequent in similar scenarios. Insurance can not raise premium on the Asian drivers but accidents like this occurred constantly.
 
Be very happy that they're just slow and don't drive like Chinese drivers in China.





Examples:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aodbmS_43M&mode=related&search=


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPxinqO3f8o&mode=related&search=


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHoAqCiFbyE&mode=related&search=





Keep in mind that most Asian cities are real urban cities with many cars on the road, so you don't get to drive very fast. But to get around town, you need to drive aggressively. In places like Taipei you'd also be fighting against countless number scooters on the road, many of which thinks a "safe distance" from your car is 3 inches.





Illegal racing clubs in Asia tend to make their runs late at night, because that's the only time when the roads are clear:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM4nhxA5hQs&mode=related&search=


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhrICgXVK_M





I had my fun with my last civic... now I'm the slow poke in my accord.








p.s. I recommend this shop: http://www.autobacsusa.com/
 
<p>Prius drivers are my worst enemy. They are either in the fast lane doing 55 or riding my azz at 80. There is no happy median they are either one extreme or the other.</p>

<p>And I am the last person who will be in the left lane driving slow. </p>
 
<p>I think many Asian drivers are inexperienced drivers. The inexperienced drivers have little confidence in their driving ability, and are likely to be more cautious, maybe scared on the freeways. </p>

<p>Many Asian are either visitors/part-time residents, or new immigrants to the U.S. They probably didn't drive in their home country, as majority of the population use the mass transit system.</p>

<p>The willingness to step on the pedal for an inexperienced teenage driver is one thing, it is quite another for someone who is in a unfamiliar foreign land and a little older. </p>
 
<p>ok, everytime I try to load this thread....my computer gets hung up. So this will be my last comment this evening.</p>

<p>123, it looks as if CK has a good story for you about why the stop sign was being targeted for enforcement. Perhaps someone had been struck there.</p>

<p>I've also heard of a pilot program they are trying out on a portion the 22 in the OC. It allows drivers to move in and out of the HOV lane if they can do so safely and also allows cars with only 1 occupant to use the lanes at off-peak hours. All of this makes sense to me. (please verify this information before you try it....I'm sure it's on the OC DOT site)</p>

<p>bk, when we investigate traffic collisions, we do note "contributing factors". For example....if someone was driving well below the speed limit and impeding traffic, and this action caused another to swerve to avoid rear ending that car.....(and another collision happened due to the swerving)...we would list the slow driver as a "contributing factor". Of course, that driver is 10 miles away by the time we get there....and yes, technically, the driver who hit another car due to his swerving is at fault. But their action was most likely the major cause of the collision. </p>

<p>I think that slow speed drivers should be required to retest at DMV to see if they belong on the road. I'm sure that many of them have unwittingly been the cause of countless accidents. CHP would be a better source for data on this.</p>
 
Because of its closeness to Little Saigon and the Korean District, the 22 was notorious for having slow Asians on the left lane before the expansion. I used to play a game with my kids to guess the nationality and gender of the slow drivers on the fast lane and laughed about it when we got it right.





My theory is that many of these drivers are older and have little experience driving cars before they get to this country. They know little about rules or driving etiquette. They usually pass the written test in their native language through memorizing the answers of previous tests without really understanding the laws.
 
Trooper, it is true that the 22 has easy in/out access for the carpool lanes. They have not started the non-peak hours rule yet. What I found interesting is that CalTran have had this setup in all the carpool lanes in the Bay Area for years but the same agency said they will have to do their study for a few years in SoCal to make sure that it is safe.
 
I think it also has something to do with where you have been for the past 14 days or so. People in DC tends to drive slow. I was there for a month early this year, and I had a hard time adjusting to their speed for the first two weeks or so. After I got back, I spend two weeks adjusting back. Some of my family members live in Germany, and when I got back from Germany, I thought LA traffic was slow.





For the record, in my brief 11 years of driving in LA, I had a total of 23 tickets, all of them speeding. So no slow Asian here. My wife once was clocked at 130mph on the way to Las Vegas in her AMG, the trooper/CHP was nice enough to give her a ticket for 88 mph only.





For traffic accident, I don't think the court or insurance company cares about how slow the drive in front is driving. Lawyer can easily say the driver was slowing down to avoid some object in the lane or some one was cutting in front of the driver so he had to slow down. I asked my insurance friend at 21st century, and yes, Asian drivers have the lowest insurance rate. Same reason why woman has lower rates than man. Asian woman banker with a post graduate science/engineering degree has the absolute lowest rate. My wife insures her AMG at about the same rate as my neighbor's Honda civic (White male in his early 50s)
 
Asians are very concerned about safety. They prefer mid-large sized cars (but not oversized gas-guzzling SUVs) because of safety and comfort. Bkshopr's observation of slow asian drivers ages 35-65 fall into this category. The 1.5 generation and older group of Asians like good size sedans such as Camrys, Accords, Avalons, ES350 because they feel it is safer than driving the smaller counterparts (i.e. Civics, Mini Coopers etc). The ones who are well off drive MBs and BMWs for the prestige and show factor.





The younger generation (ABC and FOB included) are into smaller, sportier cars. At their age, there is no need for space so smaller cars will do just fine. Plus, they are heavily influenced by Japan's rice-rocket nation, thereby making civics, rsx/tsx, g35, IS350 and WRXs all very popular choices. Teenagers in San Marino, La Canada and Arcadia have more padded wallets and lean towards the 3-series and C-class over the Japanese cars. Regardless of what car they drive, this group of folks generally drive at or above the speed limit.





As for carpool lane violators? They should be fined for the first offense, heavily fined for the second offense and have their license revoked for the third offense. There's no excuse for abusing the system and/or putting other cars in danger.





Unfortunately I'm both asian AND female so by default I'm labeled as a bad driver. I completely understand that...generally speaking, asian women are horrible drivers.


Fortunately, I've honed my driving/parking skills quite well learning to parallel park on busy streets by UCLA while I was getting my ME degree.
 
Joyce


Not all people buy MB or BMW for show factor or prestige. We buy them because, well, we like them the most. There are other reasons, but I think it is best not to discuss them here
 
<p>Bkshopr is a great stroy teller, and a "bottomless information pit", but not all information from this pit are truthful. Sometimes it is misleading and offensive. </p>

<p>In this thread he is trying to draw the equation </p>

<p>asians == slow driver == accident causer. </p>

<p>In the Riverbend thread he is try to draw the equation </p>

<p>beer == drunker == rapist </p>

<p>His statement that Chapmen University is a rapist university has gone to another extrem.</p>

<p>My suggestion to bkshopr is to stay at the path of housing professionalism, avoid jumping into conclusion of social/racial issues, because the social/racial issues are always easily to be contraficted. And nobody likes to be contradicted by different opinion. </p>
 
hyu1997,



Bkshopr does market research...market research doesn't need to be politically correct...He is trying to identify trends...the two examples shows trends, potential "causes" and "results". This is different than being just express ones opinion. He never said Campen is a rapist university....he just again identified trends. You JUMPed to the conclusion on your own.
 
I took a couple of courses on traffic engineering in school. Statistically it is shown that the greater the deviation from the flow of traffic the greater the chance for an accident -- faster or slower. In fact, the rate of increase in the accident rate is logarithmic which means the accident rate at 20 MPH more or less than the flow of traffic is 10 times the accident rate at 10 MPH more or less than the flow of traffic.





Yes, slow drivers are a traffic menace and they do cause accidents just like fast drivers do.
 
<p>I am no mad scientist, but I will state what I have observed in my 'short' lifetime.</p>

<p>Driving on Westminster and Bolsa between Magnolia and Brookhurst requires tremendeous amount of patience. I do love the gas prices on Magnolia and Bolsa, and I do love the bowl of Pho at Thanh My, but these no signal 2 lane changes drive me up the wall.</p>

<p>When driving by Leisure World or other 'senior citizen' neighborhoods, I am also extra careful.</p>

<p>Excessive alcohol is never a good thing in any environment, especially in any hormone filled college atmosphere. </p>

<p>Us software engineers know absolutely nothing about market research.</p>

<p>I consider myself a good Asian driver. </p>
 
<p>Bkshopr,</p>

<p>You must tell us: will your observations lead to manufacturers making slow drivers more comforable when they are doing so, or will it speed them up? </p>

<p>Please tell me it's the latter!</p>

<p>Troop - I have a theory that people in California don't know there is such a thing as a fast lane!</p>

<p>On the east coast, they give tickets for staying in the left lane - the left lane is for passing. You must move back when you are done. I got a ticket for this when I was 17.</p>
 
I have been told by several rental car companies the sole reason for the steep under 25 surcharges is to discourage African-American renters. Can insurance companies discriminate based on race directly though? I know African-Americans drive faster and drive longer distances to family reunions and are more aggressive drivers which explains their high insurance rates. Asians whereas are more safe and cautious. Honestly I much prefer someone doing 55 in a 75 to someone doing 120 and swerving like crazy without signaling.
 
bkshopr,





Love reading your posts. Always chock-full of insights and dead on most of the time. I'll contribute to your survey.





- Mother-in-law drives the speed limit but can tend to drift to slower speeds at times because she's scared to death and extremely cautious. She also doesn't want to get a ticket.


- Father-in-law drives extremely slow


- Wife drives like a speed demon


- Mom drives the speed limit because she's always concerned about safety


- Dad drives the flow of traffic but hates to be behind any car larger than his car or may impede his overall vision of the road so I guess that can be attributed to concern for safety but he definitely doesn't drive slow.


- Myself I prefer to stick with the flow of traffic because I hate sitting in traffic.
 
<p>bk:</p>

<p>Add these to your research: Who are slow drivers on the freeways?</p>

<p>As you have stated, most asians drive japanese models. Why? because of reliability. Which mean they want to avoid being at the mechanic shops. To further delaying their visits to the mechanics. They drive slow = less wear and tear on the vehicles. </p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>
 
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