Asian Drivers: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

[[Unfortunate Implications|The stereotype that Asians are bad drivers.]] If it is to be believed, Asians simultaneously drive too fast ''and'' too slow, supposedly due to their eyes not being wide enough to see all of the road.

 

Compare [[Women Drivers]].

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* A reverse example where Italy from ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' [[Drives Like Crazy|drives so crazily]] that Japan makes a safer car just so he never has to endure that experience again. Of course, this [[Incredibly Lame Pun|drives]] right into another stereotype: that of Italians being [[Drives Like Crazy|ridiculously unsafe drivers]].

 

== Film - Live Action ==

* In the [[Nicolas Cage]] film ''[[Gone in Sixty Seconds]]'', one of the team members is now a driving instructor, and his most hopeless student is an Asian [[Women Drivers|woman]]. It's plain insulting.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* ''[[Mad TV]]'': initially averted, then subverted in an [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkCSbIJO3EQ "Average Asian" skit].

* The ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]'' sketch where David Mitchell receives a [[Brown Note|green clarinet that makes you tell embarrassing truths in verse]] has him retaliate against a woman who cuts in front of him in the supermarket checkout line by forcing her to confess:

 

== Memes ==

 

== Stand Up Comedy ==

* Iranian-American comedian Maz Jobrani lampoons this [[N-Word Privileges|along with Middle Eastern stereotypes]]:

{{quote|"We're making progress in this country. You know how I know this? I saw a car commercial, and the driver was ''Asian.'' Good for that car company. They're taking a stand. They're saying 'No, Asians ''can'' drive, and they ''will'' drive - our cars.' Then I thought, maybe they're making kind of a racist statement, like, 'Our cars are so safe even Asians can drive them.' But still... I mean, you're never going to see a Middle Eastern pilot in an airline commercial. [putting on accent] 'Come fly the friendly skies... my friend.'"}}

* But played straight in ''[[Formula One]]''. The category has had 24 drivers hailing from Asian countries (20 of them from Japan), and only three of them managed to score over 10 points throughout their career's spans (which, considering a career's time, is a measly total): Satoru Nakajima (16 points in five seasons), Takuma Sato (44 points in seven seasons) and Kamui Kobayashi (65 points in three seasons - granted, this was after F1's punctuation system was changed to one similar to what Indy uses).

* [http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/10/not-news-south-korean-woman-passes-driving-test-news/ South Korean woman passes driving test after 950 attempts.]

* Many Filipinos actually take some twisted pride in their reputation for bad driving. One favorite joke is "Westerners say Filipinos don't know how to drive. Filipinos say Westerners don't know how to survive." Some variation of the joke is also present in India, Vietnam, and, well, pretty much every Asian country with high traffic density and poor enforcement of motoring laws.

** In the Philippines, traffic laws are so lax, they're only enforced in "traffic discipline zones", normally large busy intersections in dense urban areas, which are clearly marked with signs all around.

** In Thailand, people routinely drive on the wrong side of the road, and a pedestrian crossing with a green walking man illuminated is no guarantee that you won't be nearly killed by a horde of motorcyclists driving directly towards you. Thai drivers, however, are not so much bad as this is the way they have to drive to get anywhere on Thai roads. Their control of the car and ability to squeeze through tight spaces is excellent.

** In some rural highways in China, jaywalkers and drivers routinely play chicken with each other, trying to see which person would actually stop to let the other through.

* Japan is the only developed country where more people are killed ''by'' cars than in them. This is most likely because a lot of surface roads in Japan are ridiculously narrow and don't have sidewalks.

* [[George Takei]] has lampshaded this trope on his Twitter.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Drawn Together]]'' includes this in a no-holds-barred barrage of Asian stereotypes (against Ling-Ling, the Pikachu-looking monster), ''all'' of which are apparently caused by the shape of the eyes.

** Also, in one episode, a carriage of Disney Princesses crash in a horrific and gory way: it's revealed that it happened because they "let [[Mulan]] drive".