Disclaimers

OK. So [insert name here] has just got their driving licence, and is really excited about his/her new car. How do you think they would drive?

A. Carefully, just as they were taught during driving lessons
B. Like an 80-year-old lady, extremely slow and careful
C. Like a maniac


I think most of you would pick C if the new driver was around let's say 17-19 years of age. Speeding, not giving a @#$% about other drivers on the road, going against traffic rules, the works. I'll bet that most of you (those who are around 40 years and above) will have that kind of prejudice against new drivers with a new car.


They're all over the place - young guys and girls with rich parents and brand new cars, racing on highways, getting into accidents, etc. However, there's always an exception to everything (most things, anyway).


Yes, I know I haven't been the best driver on the road, but then again, I would appreciate some trust that I will not do such things. I step on the brakes at the slightest curve (and I think gave the drivers behind me a lot of mini-heart attacks). I dare not drive above 80km/h. In fact, I find driving at 80km/h already like my mum driving her car at 110km/h.


"No one's rushing you", they say, but then it always goes back to lots of nagging and tones of voice that suggest impatience, and I'm the kind of person that has grown up in an environment that if I don't comply, I get it, and I'll get it good. Every single move I make is a mistake to them. Why? Just because I got a new (and not to mention powerful) car and have practically no driving experience.


Previously it was decided that I would get a car only when I have cultivated enough driving experience. How? My sister won't let me touch my car, because on both occasions that I was behind the wheel something went wrong with the car. My mum's car is huge beyond belief. And I was supposed to drive that honking-car, with no driving experience, around town, and then get a huge whopping if I ever got a scratch or nick on that car. No way.


I had requested a non-local car, automatic, where possible. Then I gave up my non-local car condition, but I wanted my car to be an automatic. They kept me waiting for so long that I gave up anyway and said any car would do as long as it moves alright and isn't held together by dirt and grime.


Yes, I got myself a sweet deal of a car - practically brand new, powerful, draws envious glances, and lots of money spent on my safety and whatnot. Grateful as I am, I would be even more grateful if they didn't stereotype me into the "reckless asshole on the road" category. I don't claim that I'm always right on the road, but you could just give me a huge scolding and just give it up. Must you bloody hell point out all my driving faults in public?


My uncle, being a rebellious youngster in his old days, gave some valuable advice - never ever try to race any car, regardless of how much the other car is provoking it. Then I just said that not all young drivers are reckless assholes (not with that vocabulary, of course), then I got it. The atomic bomb. The nuclear bomb. The Big Bang. I got blasted into a million pieces immediately. I didn't directly say that I will never do that, but I made a disclaimer that not all young drivers are like those idiots.


Seems that when you're 19 with not as much experience as everyone else, you're considered completely wrong by all means.