November 28, 2007
Several years ago I had jury duty and was put on a jury in a criminal trial for an African-American woman who had been arrested for having crack rock in her apartment in a local housing project. Her excuse was (drumroll please... it was intelligently and carefully crafted...) "it wasn't mine". Ha ha. Anyhow, I listened to the case with an open mind. Perhaps it wasn't hers, if there was sufficient proof. There wasn't. So the jury heads back to the deliberation room to discuss a verdict. What happened next suprised me a lot. The black women on the jury were the most unsympathetic, angry and vicious about the case and ready to slap a guilty verdict on her immediately. They had no sympathy for the defendant, they said.
On that note, I also have no sympathy for the women in my peer group. What have they done that is criminal? Driving with road rage. I don't understand why insurance rates are higher for men than for women, because women in their 30s and 40s can't drive worth a crap. They also talk on their cell phones way too much while driving. Cell phone + psycho woman + SUV = very dangerous situation. The other demographic I see who has issues with driving is men in their 20s, since they are young and stupid and haven't made enough mistakes to learn from them. What excuse does a 38-year-old woman have for acting homicidal behind the wheel of a car or truck? None. I don't think "I have kids and it is stressing me out" is a good excuse for any sort of ugly behavior behind the wheel. What scares me even more is that a lot of these women are driving huge SUVs - not the midsize Highlander, but a gigantic Yukon that can kill and maim people, simply because "I have kids and I'm stressed out". I'm pretty sure if she is driving a vehicle like that, then her life could not possibly be bad enough to take her anger out on other innocent drivers. I don't care if the psycho woman driver has kids, is stressed out, has an important presentation, has to buy Christmas gifts or just had an argument with her husband. There is no excuse for road rage. What is wrong with people that they can't realize that they made choices that put themselves where they are now? That's why I can't feel sorry for a woman who is acting like a homicidal maniac. Is there something I don't know as a woman, about being in my 40s? Because if my hormones make me act that ugly, then I don't want to be around in ten years.
Posted by megabeth at November 28, 2007 08:31 AM
I'm not so sure it's entirely the kid thing. A lot of women are nervous drivers to begin with. They have the huge SUVs because they feel "safer" - more between them and everyone else, better visibility and the like. That, in turn, makes them feel invincible.
Driving with noisy kids in the car is their own fault - they should have taken the time to train the kids to behave better while mom's driving. Add the distraction of a cell phone to that, and you have women who simply do not pay attention to what's going on on the road.
Hormones are often forced to take the rap for things caused by pure stupidity.
Posted by: diane at November 29, 2007 02:02 PM
Hormones may not be the cause for stupid driving, but driving with rage and intent to commit (or come close to commiting) vehicular assault would have some tie-in to the woman being hormonal, emotional, or perhaps she is just mean to the bone.
I would be nervous driving a 4-ton hunk of steel. I drove my sister's SUV (can't remember the model but it is a big one) one time at the beach and couldn't see anything below 6 feet off the ground. I would rather my kids sit in the back seat of a Toyota Camry (I bet they would make it through childhood okay) than constantly be paranoid that I just ran over a small sedan.
Posted by: megabeth at November 29, 2007 02:10 PM
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