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Women Drivers (view source)

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|'''Old Saying'''}}
 
A ''supposedly'' [[Discredited Trope|long-dead comedy trope/stereotype]] which maintained that a woman behind the wheel of a car ''automatically'' became a danger to life and limb. Regardless of how intelligent and thoughtful a woman was, this trope insisted she would become [[The Ditz]]—or — or worse, a [[Cloudcuckoolander]]—the — the moment she slipped into the driver's seat: incapable of using turn signals, [[Had the Silly Thing In Reverse|checking her gear shift position]], or even looking where she's going. Even parking could become a major challenge.
 
Any problems—orproblems — or worse, accidents—sheaccidents — she caused would be dismissed with a breezy carefreeness that husbands and traffic cops inevitably found grating, '''Women Drivers''' as often as not blaming the car for operator errors.
 
Being a male driver on a road anywhere within a half mile of a woman driver was grounds for elevated blood pressure and/or anxiety attacks.
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If a male character had a traffic accident or fender-bender in a comedy made before 1970, a woman driver was most likely the cause. And if the mom of a pre-1970 [[Dom Com]] got behind the wheel, it was all but guaranteed she'd come home with a crumpled fender and an improbable story that completely exonerated her by shifting the blame to another driver or perhaps a tree which lunged out into the street at her.
 
Still sometimes used in fiction, often set in the Asian parts of the world and [[California]]; the common joke here is that everytimeevery time you see a car do something incredibly stupid (as opposed to incredibly dangerous or obnoxious), chances are the driver is a woman. With a high probability of them [[Asian Drivers|being Asian]]. It's also very popular in the comments sections of car accident videos on sites like [[YouTube]].
 
There is a slight dose of [[Truth in Television]] to this: due to evolutionary reasons women tend to have slightly worse spatial reasoning skills than men, the men however more than make up for this by risky behavior. Statistically speaking, women are more likely to scratch your car on the parking lot, men are more likely to drive past a red light and into you at a 100kmph. Also a lot of women, more specific women with commuter jobs, ''hate'' driving - they may do it for sheer necessity, but for many women the men's [[Christine|reckless love for car and driving]] appears weird on the border of psychosis. Invoked in poorer societies where the average family has only one car and the fathers tend to log most of the wheel-time.
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* Averted in ''[[Misfile]]''—while female Ash struggles to drive the day after her transformation, it's because she isn't used to her new smaller feet and... other features.
* Jodie from ''[[Loserz]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20110519173522/http://bukucomics.com/loserz/go/3 managed to jump with her car over a McDonald's].
 
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
* Referenced in the ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' cartoon "Halloween Fairstival", where Bubs is giving a comedy act that consists of [[Stylistic Suck|a mish-mash of bare-bones stand-up jokes]]:▼
{{quote|'''Strong Bad:''' Say, Bubs, your comedy club bears a striking resemblance to the side of your concession stand.▼
'''Bubs:''' Aw, that's rich. You know something else that bears a striking resemblance to something else?▼
'''Strong Bad:''' I dunn--▼
'''Bubs:''' Women can't drive! }}▼
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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** Also referenced by Krusty the Clown, nostalgic for the days of "time tested jokes about doctor bills and women drivers"
* ''[[Family Guy]]''. Peter is blindfolded, but still drives. When Lois asks if she should drive, since she's not blindfolded, he laughs her off. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
{{quote|[[YouArtistic FailLicense Law Forever|Lois, you know it's illegal for women to drive]].}}
** Also, during a cut away when Lois is watching the news on September 11, 2001. [[Dude, Not Funny|Peter walks by the screen, takes a glance and comments the pilot must've been female.]]
** The Asian woman version happens, too. "How much signal I need to cut across eight lane? None? I turn now. Good luck everybody else!" [[Hilarity Ensues|Pandemonium ensues]].
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** Of course, it should be pointed out that her driving is likely less because she's a woman and more because she has absolutely no concern for traffic hazards since she's a mutant who can just phase through them.
** Kitty tries to convince either Scott or Jean to ride with her because she has a learner's permit. It's ''Jean'' who shoves Scott at Kitty and runs off.
 
▲== [[Web Original]] ==
▲* Referenced in the ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' cartoon "Halloween Fairstival", where Bubs is giving a comedy act that consists of [[Stylistic Suck|a mish-mash of bare-bones stand-up jokes]]:
▲{{quote|'''Strong Bad:''' Say, Bubs, your comedy club bears a striking resemblance to the side of your concession stand.
▲'''Bubs:''' Aw, that's rich. You know something else that bears a striking resemblance to something else?
▲'''Strong Bad:''' I dunn--
▲'''Bubs:''' Women can't drive! }}
 
== [[Real Life]] ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Motor Vehicle Tropes{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Vehicle Tropes]]▼
[[Category:Always Female]]
▲[[Category:Motor Vehicle Tropes]]
[[Category:Tropes Examined by the Mythbusters]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}Vehicle Tropes]]
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