From: noemi@maui.cs.ucla.edu (Noemi Berry)
Subject: Re: Cages suck (women cagers)
Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 20:57:45 GMT

ok, i've caught up with this thread and just can't keep quiet any more.

you must all have lots of self-control: i didn't see one post that
flamed Ed Green for saying half of us are worse than the average
driver.  half of us are worse than the MEDIAN driver, right?

that said, i am definitely in the upper half :-).

now.  speaking as a female driver, my career record:

pull-overs: 8.  tickets: 3.  convictions: 2.  all via cage.
all for speeding.  all for at least 15mph over the limit, limits
ranging from 35mph to 65mph.  five of them for 52 in a 35,
including both convictions.

factors in escaping 5 over-15mph speeding pull-overs:
	- very creative story-telling
	- being polite and never angry
	- one was looking for DUIs, i passed a field sobriety test
	  (another 52 in 35 escape, well, 55 in 35)
	- my 80mph pullover was a woman CHP who let me go
	  ("i was testing out my alignment, see, my steering wheel pulls!")
	- TONS of luck
	- usually having a clean record!

i doubt all of my good fortune can be attributed to being female,
and alone for every pullover.  but who's to say what did it?

as far as women riding making them better drivers?  perhaps.
it's very individual.  however, my family, roommates and friends
all tell me they are more aware of motorcyclists because it could
always be me, and somehow as a female rider i am perceived as more
fragile and innocent or something.  so in that sense, the free
education of drivers around me is good for all motorcyclists.

and to address the beginning of this thread, my name was up there
somewhere in response to the "sexist" coments about women being
worse drivers, or being less aware.  for the record, i am not a
knee-jerk feminist or anything-ist and being female or caucasian
or brunette or anything does not mean i will immediately rush to
the defense of that group.

that said, people do go by likelihoods, which blur over into "stereotypes", 
just because it is more cognitively efficient.  many of those driving
stereotypes do include women.  red mercedes convertibles are #1 on my
to-avoid list, i don't care who's driving it.  large rickety gardening
pickups with 10 immigrant workers in the back are up there.  any vehicle
with children, espcially when said children are bouncing up and down on
the seat (THAT pisses me off) is most definitely to be avoided.  those
are more frequently driven by women, in my observations.  Camaros driven
by women too.  the drivers i trust the most happen to almost all be
men: truck drivers in semis.  in LA, i would say i was tailgated by men
more, but people pulling out of driveways indiscrimately was more women.
generally i see that men are more aware of rules of the road on highways
(e.g.  i see more women left-lane bandits), but it varies with other
factors like age, too.

basically, watch out no matter what.

noemi
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
noemi@cs.ucla.edu             					KotSBL
DoD #443  							'82 KZ 305 CSR
		NM (Next Motorcycle) countdown: 250 miles & ERC
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Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles