Tuesday, January 5, 2010

A post accident blog - Women and Driving

When you have been on roads too frequently and too long, you trust your instincts more than you should. A recent accident is a testimony to the fact. With my then 8 month old baby I tried making it to the signal followed by a sharp turn at the shoulder of a highway hitting the curb.
For a second I lost it all. Dhrithi started crying out of the impact and I was panicking thinking that it's all out of control. It was 2 30 Pm and B had to return from work to assess the damages and take the car to mechanic. The rim was broken and alignment was gone. I stood in the middle of shoulder with Dhrithi crying loud. Since this was my first accident, I didn't know who to call or what it meant to us.

I went BECAR. Like many others I am now a victim of luxury. The car also means much more to me when I have the baby along. For next few weeks, I had to commute by bus with Dhrithi in a baby carrier, with a stroller that I carried into the bus and an umbrella since it rained then. I take pride in being someone who can do adapt to circumstances extraordinarily and fortunately I even did, but an accident had it's impacts.

The cop didn't give me any ticket, my brain did. My self esteem as a decent driver plummeted, My carelessness costed us several thousand dollars., which the insurance had to pay. I am less confortable taking out the car with confidence. Today when I had to drive back from the mechanic, I was scared all through the way for 15 miles.

The bill contained repairs for parts I hardly knew they existed. I have cared less to know about mechanism inside a car just like any other woman. That's a part of being a woman. If you are reading this post and deny this because you drive well and also are familiar with the parts, just pat yourself on the back because you are a rare find according to me.

Women and Driving - Still a paradox.

Good news is that this could have been worse, also I learned my lesson by paying a heavy price.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your accident is only one data point, Shri! Not valid enough to make a conclusion.

Hope you both were not hurt.

Shrividya said...

I knew I would have disagreement with female drivers, but I still believe that right brains are less meant for driving or video games and the likes

Balaji Varadharajan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Balaji Varadharajan said...

@ Anonymous : I think, if you drive along any of the highways in Houston or in any city, throughout the day, you should be able to gather enough datapoints to calculate the std.deviation, mean, median, mode and every other statistical parameter. Sadly, all of them will point to one fact.
Sorry if I am seen as a male chauvinist, but, I still believe that most of the road accidents are caused by women.
Plainly put, they dont have the flair for driving! They are good at other things though (if that helps make you feel better!).