Thursday, August 29, 2013

Are BMW Drivers Really the Worst?


As the once proud owner of a beautiful white 320i BMW, a Twitter headline caught my eye yesterday: 
                                    Study:  BMW Driver Are the Worst.

I read the article to my husband and we both had a good laugh about the studies because our perception is, it's often true.  Luxury car owners are less prone to courtesy, driving the speed limit, stopping for pedestrians.  

A sweeping generalization indeed, but, having grown up in the foremost city of excess, Los Angeles, where you are judged by what you drive...well, what can I say?  



Once upon a time, before we had children and were building our careers, we bought ourselves "nice" cars.  I had the BMW and he had a Saab 900 Turbo he adored.  In 1983, I paid $15k for that 320i with a 13% interest rate.  Anybody out there remember when interest rates were that high?  I paid it off in 3 years.  I kept the car 10 years and put over 168,000 miles on it; the odomoter stopped working, could have been closer to 200k. Was I a bitchy driver?  I know I was an aggressive driver.  So Cal freeways are not for sissies.  You'd better know how to drive defensively.  At a company Christmas party, right after I'd bought the car, my co-workers bought me a paddleboard with signs I could hold out the window.  They said everything from "Bite me" to "Stop Tailgating" to "You suck at driving" to "Fuck you".  I loved that thing.  It stopped me from flipping people off.  I had a sign.  I had a bunch of signs!  I could actually tell them what I really thought.  I could hold it out of the sunroof, the driver's window.   I felt empowered.  Of course, these were the days before drive by shootings became popular.  Then I had my car accident and totalled my BMW, I never saw that paddle board OR my car again.  Before you get all judgmental on me, I had a seizure while driving, blacked out, crossed 3 lanes of traffic and went down an embankment, rolling the car.  I have no memory of this.  Some firemen were following in another lane and rescued me.  I woke up in the hospital.

I now drive my third Subaru.  I live in a small town.  Bad drivers still piss me off and I still miss that paddle board.




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12 comments:

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

Sorry about your accident; what a nasty way to become a Subaru driver. I used to drive very fast on the highway, and I could have used a paddleboard like that. And btw, I had a 14% interest rate on my first mortgage. Seems crazy now.

DJan said...

Oh, Cali... I have never had a luxury car, and I certainly try to blend in to the others on the road, but if I could, I would own a Lexus and be BAD! :-)

California Girl said...

Bliss : the accident was 30 years ago and, believe me, God was watching over me. But that's another story.

California Girl said...

DJan, all you'd need is a paddle board!

Bill Lisleman said...

" judged by what you drive" - another reason I could never live in So Cal. The paddle board signs are funny to imagine. With the crazy road rage I've seen I would be very reluctant to use those.

California Girl said...

Bill, yeah, it would be tantamount to a bulls eye.

Marcheline said...

Hey, thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment! I thought I'd return the favor. I live on Long Island, where you can practically tell the town people live in by the cars they drive. And yes, the luxury sports car drivers are obnoxious for the most part... but the absolute worst here are the drivers of high-end SUVs. Get near a pearlescent white SUV with chrome wheels, and watch the arseholy-ness begin! They own the road, you see, and the rest of us just haven't gotten the memo yet.

California Girl said...

Marcheline, thank YOU for stopping by. I have a few friends from LI. One was born and raised in a blue collar Italian family in Sag Harbor. He now lives in San Diego but goes home every year. I've been to his home and met his family and hung with the real locals and had a total blast. In fact, the the Sheriff of Sag Harbor is his best friend so the night we were drinking at his bar, the Sheriff was there to watch our backs. Yes, the Hampton crowd is like the Beverly Hills crowd: annoying with tremendous sense of entitlement.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Goodness that's quite a story CG. I think I may be a bit of a cranky driver too, well maybe just impatient :) I wrote my car off also many years ago, but it was a case of too much champagne, never again..someone above was definitely looking after me.
Sounds like your boys are having a fabulous time in Australia.. wonder if they will make to Perth?

Cole said...

Glad you lost that damn paddle...especially when I'm in the car w/ you.

California Girl said...

Hahahahaha!

California Girl said...

You are fortunate as well. God is in his heaven sometimes.

I'll keep you posted on the boys. :)

Christina

Christina
by Cole Scott