Human Rights Group: Asian Driver Stereotype Unfair

28 October 2013, 4:30pm

Perth human rights group, Colour Blind, have appealed to the Australian public to stop perpetuating the myth that "Asians are bad drivers".

It is believed by some that people of Asian descent have inferior driving ability compared to anglo-saxon drivers. A myth with no evidence to support it.

Spokesman for the group, Angus Po, released the following statement on Colour Blind's Facebook page:

"We appeal to all members of the Australian public to stop saying that Asians are bad drivers. This stereotype is lazy and fails to take into account the sub-standard driving behaviors of a number of other ethnic groups. We want the stereotype to reflect the true status quo. For example, everyone knows that Arabic people don't know what to do in a round-a-bout, and that African people have great difficulty in merging and correctly using an indicator... So instead of cursing 'Asian drivers' we implore people to make reference to 'ethnic drivers' when screaming obscenities from the window of their cars".

The Bell Tower Times took to the street to find out what the average punter thought:

Karla Wong is of Chinese descent, she told us: "OMG about time. The stereotype should just be limited to Filipino drivers though, they are the worst".

Dean Carlo is of Italian descent, he told us: "I fully agree mate, no one ever picks up on how shithouse Greeks are behind the wheel. Always trying to drag race and have those fluffy dice hanging from the mirror".

Edward Yabo is of Sudanese descent, he told us: "we have a saying back in Sudan to describe an idiot, we say, you are steering like a Ugandan! ha!".

Bruce McKinson is of Australian descent, he told us: "I agree with updating the stereotype. My biggest problem is with fairies behind the wheel. If you are gay you are bound to drive gay, and thats not on"

Frankly, Colour Blind's campaign raises more questions than it answers. We admire them for wanting to make a difference, however, we do not feel that Australia is ready for all these additional weird stereotypes. We encourage people to not accuse each other of steering like Ugandans.