Friday, June 12, 2009

Evaluating one's driving skills ...

The evening rains in Accra yesterday resulted in an involuntary and impromptu wet t-shirt contest among some of the female vendors. The men it seemed had nothing to worry about, and the fierce jostling for potential customers by both sexes was little affected by the elements.

As is also usual with weather like this, it brought out the worst in terms of driving. After swearing and swerving for what seemed like the hundredth time, I was reminded of a theory that a Jamaican female friend of mine swears by. She is firm in her conviction that women can tell how good - or bad - a potential or actual lover is by how he drives!

Based on her investigative sampling methods - and no, am not sure of the sample size - she has come to the conclusion that a man who drives well - i.e how he handles his car, how he observes and obeys the road signs etc. - is a good lover as he tends to handle his women in the same manner. Interesting theory uh? Makes me wonder however if by expanding the theory that most tro-tro drivers (or in Jamaica the minibus men) and taxi men are bad lovers?

Found myself watching what was happening on the roads yesterday and wondered IF her theory was true, then what would the road behavior imply about the driver and his competence as a lover - in this case I was looking at men only. My own assumptions:

Road behavior: flagrant disregard for all road rules and decorum;
Theory : Bad lover; scant regard for partners' pleasure and/or satisfaction!

Road behavior : prone to road rage;
Theory : Selfish, jealous and possessive lover.

Road behavior: pulling over into the other lane without checking or signaling;
Theory: little consistency in his love making; always changing 'lanes' without checking if its okay first and what this means for the other 'driver'.


Road behavior : Excessive speeding, even in confined areas;
Theory: A Mr Slam-Dunk; intent on getting only to the 'destination' with scant regard for the 'journey'.


Needless to say I could go on with this theory for quite some comparisons! Hmm, if I think about all the drama I encounter on the roads everyday, does this mean that we have few good 'drivers' in our fair city of Accra? I can't help but wonder.

5 comments:

The Author said...

Lol. What startling imagery!

posekyere said...

Let us set a sample size of say 50 male drivers.
Then check them out behind both 'wheels' for empirical evidence to ascertain for yourself this hypothesis.Hahaha!
Seriously though, I believe that your friend could be 100% right.
The major reasons behind the bad performance in both cases are similar in my view: selfishness & carelessness.

Denise said...

Hi Nana, and here I was thinking that I had successfully managed to tone it down. Lol!

Denise said...

Hmm Posekyere, sample size of fifty? in what period of time? Anyway, don't bother answering that, I have no intention of trying. Funny how you never meet a driver (of either sort) that readily admits to being a bad driver uh?
I agree though - carelessness and selfishness are definitely two major contributing factors!

Gwyneth Harold Davidson said...

To get around the sample size, issue a survey. This is important research!