Why are inexperienced, timid drivers allowed to get their license?

All new drivers are inexperienced – they can hardy be anything else if they have just obtained their licence.

A lot of times they are very ignorant to other drivers and the fact that their timid driving puts others on the road in serious danger.

I guess that you must also be inexperienced if you feel that a slow moving driver is a danger to you.

As for your claim that it is Asian/Indian drivers who are timid, that has to be bias on your part, they are no more timid on average than anyone else.

“Not to sound racist,”
Sorry, it does.

1. If they are driving with a valid driver’s license, they passed the written and driving standards established by the state.

2. So, without ever driving alone on the highway, you got your license and never made mistakes? I find that ludicrously unlikely.

How are they supposed to become more experienced without experiencing driving?

And yeah, saying “not to sound racist” and then needlessly throwing in race makes you sound racist.

When I first got my license I lived in Houston. Much as I hated to go on the freeways, sometimes that was the only way to get certain places. I had a few screw-ups and a fender-bender (right outside the Medical Center in fact), but once I passed both the written and driving tests, what else could I do? How do you expect folks to get experience without driving?

Trust me, Houston is a tough place to learn to drive, but if that is where you live, that is where you have to do it. I still remember the nightmare that was FM 1960 during Driver’s Ed classes.

BTW, I am neither Asian or Indian, but I was a timid driver at first. It was better than being a jackass who speeds and cuts across traffic without thinking of others.

I live in Houston, too. In the museum district, actually, less than 5 blocks from the Med Center, and 35–40 mph is what people SHOULD be driving on the highway-change ramps.

I’ve been driving for years, and the drivers I have the biggest problem with are the ones who drive like maniacs pushing the speed limit during rush hour because they know exactly where they’re going, and they don’t care about anyone else on the road.
It’s drivers who aren’t courteous of others that put us all in danger, not ones who are “timid” or in other words, cautious!

@Darwin So true. I can go around a timid driver. I am much more likely to get creamed by a hot shot.

@La_chica_gomela I was under the impression you were supposed to be going the speed of the other traffic when you entered the highway, so 45–70mph?

@Racism Why?

@patg7590: The change-ramps: where you’re going from one highway to another. They’re windy and curvy, and they’re really high up in the air, and you’re about to have to merge with other cars. He said “interchange”—that’s what I took that to mean.

Yes but this is what I mean!! 45–65 on the 610 Loop, and when the flow of traffic is going this way, not only does it disrupt the flow of traffic…. BUTit endangers other drivers. Not to mention the pile up of hostile drivers who get behind ME, and then cut ME off, for not going fast enough on the freeways…only because I am behind and inexperienced driver.

My solution would be to learn to drive in a less populated area.

Not to sound racist, but the large majority is comprised of Asian and Indian drivers who go about 35 mph on freeway interchanges.

Here we have no stop lights and almost no street lines. I have pulled over dozens of times to let some hotrodder/tailgater pass me. They are usually in trucks, they are usually male, they are usually young (but not always).
Starting any sentence with “Not to be (racist, critical, picky, etc) but,” usually implies racism, criticism, pickiness, etc.

Don’t get TIMID confused with COURTEOUS!! lol

@perplexed82: I wrote timid ie “CAUTIOUS” not courteous.

And for the record – I learned to drive on other highways and freeways. Not the intertwined monstrosity that is downtown Houston

@gomela cautious/courteous… still not synonymous with timid…or scared & inexperienced.

@perplexed82: Can you please use complete sentences? I don’t know what you’re trying to say.

oops – Not to sound racist…. is exactly what I meant. It was an observation based on lots of experience. Not code for “I’m really a racist.”

@La_chica_gomela Sorry, I failed 4th grade English.

I’m not trying to insult you, I’m just asking that you use a complete sentence. “cautious/courteous… still not synonymous with timid…or scared & inexperienced” just doesn’t make sense to me.

Cautious and courteous are completely different words. What you described and labeled “timid” to me sounds like what I call being cautious. Neither of those things equals being courteous.

@La_chica_gomela I’ll keep that in mind; I got a little riled up!

@perplexed82 it does sound racist and offensive

@RedPowerLady it does sound racist and offensive

It is racist and offensive.

It means that there is a bias, deliberate or subconscious, where the poster does not notice things that annoy him/her unless they involve one of the races that s/he feels a prejudice against. There is no possible way that timidity or caution has a racial component, it is to do with personality, not ancestry.

@perplexed82, Your point is totally logical. Not the minority driver thing… you just notice them more when they screw up. The majority of each race is quite stupid, as you know. But your main point is right on target.

Just one minor detail though…. the sad fact is… most timid drivers, are experienced drivers. But their lack of observation and high fear factor…. cause them to be slow, stupid, and timid. The same ones who always get confused at 4-way stop signs. And the same ones who pause for literally 2 or 3 seconds, when the light turns green, “just to make sure the intersection is clear”. Because they’re too stupid to observe the area when the light was red.

@Kraigmo

You love the word “stupid” don’t you. You even use it where it isn’t appropriate. That’s love for you.

Being cautious while driving is not stupid, not even if it annoys those impetuous drivers who are far more likely to be involved in accidents. If someone is unsure about moving through an intersection, for whatever reason, would you prefer them to just put their foot down and move through it anyway? That would be stupid.

People pause for all sorts of reasons, perhaps their vision is obscured, they might be dazzled by a reflection, they might see vehicle coming that they have right of way over, but are concerned that the driver doesn’t appear to be slowing.

@darkscribe, When did i criticize being cautious? And one of many ways to be cautious, is to drive with the rhythm of the traffic around oneself, rather than setting one’s own selfish slow-or-fast pace.

@Kraigmo rather than setting one’s own selfish slow-or-fast pace.

The motivation for caution is based on selfishness? Why do you sprinkle posts with supercilious generalisations? People who exceed your standard are not necessarily doing anything other than being “unselfish” trying to avoid accidents or avoid causing accidents.

I tend to drive fast, I own and enjoy vehicles capable of it, but although a slow and hestitant driver in front of me can be frustrating, I don’t think that the driver is stupid or selfish, I just think that they are driving within their limitations. As they should.

Your attitude (and that of the OPs) is reminiscent of the old Disney “Maximus Stupidicus” driver skit starring Goofy. Any driver who is faster than you is a reckless idiot, all those slower are incompetent fools.

@Kraigmo: Wow, you think pausing when the light turns green is stupid. There was a short list of practices my driver’s ed teacher said “will save your life”. That was on it. I guess you’re probably not interested the others because the whole concept of defensive driving is so stupid.

Timid drivers pose less risk to others than overconfident aggressive testosterone-powered wannabe alpha dogs.

(Being primarily defined as males in their early twenties, if my home town is typical.)

@gailcalled – Here in Texas they don’t have to be in their early twenties. Being a male of any age in a big pickup truck with enormous wheels seems to be enough. But typically they are US citizens, though. Being illegal means you do not want the cops to notice you for any reason at all.

@DarkScribe Ya it’s racist, I was just being a bit more subtle about it. But anyhow good response.

I have lived in Houston for my entire life and experience on a daily bases what @perplexed82 is describing (I currently drive through the medical center to and from work). It is not unique to Houston (or the medical center area) and not unique to a few races/ethnicities, though.

Many of the folks in the area are new to driving and not only new to Houston, but new to this country. I will not say if it is an excuse or not (okay, it isn’t), but driving at a drastically different speed than the normal flow of traffic is extremely dangerous and causes accidents and it happens more than normal around here from my observations and experience.

Two other factors in this area are the MetroRail and the fact that many drivers in the medical center are visitors (and usually visiting for a bad reason like a medical issue). which can cause crappier driving. Also, people in general do not have a clue how to drive with/alongside street-level light rail.

@Kraigmo lol. And for all of you who view me as the Resident Racist, there’s plenty of honky white boys driving their huge F150 trucks guzzling gas down the highway at 85 mph. Try being behind one of those bad boys when there’s an inexperienced Chinese man in front of me. Or maybe get behind Paco, who wants to drive 15 mph on the highway in his beat up Pinto blowing black smoke all the way to the Gulf Freeway. Oh wait, I can’t forget the African Americans, I also run into in the medical center. They are usually the easiest to drive with as long as they aren’t blasting bass and rattling their Ben Hur rims causing a distraction to everyone else in existence.

@everyone- and by the way, it’s not a minority thing. It’s a freaking MAJORITY thing!

@patg7590 Ah, the things people say to each other online because they don’t have the balls to do it in person. Fail!