June 5, 2015, - 3:32 pm

NYTimes Rubio Traffic Tix “Investigation” Confirms This Truism About Chick Drivers

By Debbie Schlussel

I couldn’t help but notice that the New York Times’ petty investigation into the Rubios’ traffic ticket history is useful in illustrating this one thing feminists hate to hear:

Women drivers suck.

The “investigation” shows that Marco Rubio had only four traffic incidents. His wife had a whopping 13.

womendrivers







As longtime readers know, I’m no fan of Mr. Rubio, whether it’s his membership in the Senate “Gang of Eight” and flip-flop-flipping on illegal alien amnesty or his use of a Florida GOP credit card to pay for thousands of dollars in personal expenses (which he paid back only when he was caught, and for which he was lucky to skate from criminal charges). But I’m not sure what his or his wife’s traffic tickets and speeding records have to do with running for or being President. The President and First Lady are chauffeured and ferried around. And it’s not like he got his tickets dropped because of who he is.

For the record, I once used the speeding tickets of my opponent, liberal Democrat trial lawyer and apparent gigolo Marc Shulman (who pretended to be a Republican), against him when I ran for the Michigan House of Representatives. That’s because he got several of them and they were all mysteriously “set aside” because he was pals and cronies with the Judge, the allegedly corrupt, late Judge Edward Avadenka. In that case, it was relevant.

In this case it is not.

In any event, the one thing that is relevant is this: Marco Rubio . . . only four tickets. His wife . . . THIRTEEN!

It’s not sexist here to say, “Women Drivers!” Just accurate.

***

In case you were wondering, I’m a good driver, or at least I like to think so. But I’m very aggressive and on the offense on the road. You have to be. Also, I’m one of those people you probably hate, who is always in a hurry and doesn’t like wasting time in the slow lane behind old drivers who clearly haven’t been tested in years, minority women drivers on their cell phones taking their sweet time (um, no, that isn’t racist to say or sexist, just true), and minivans. If you have one of those silly, conformist set of stickers on your car of each of your purported family members, and I’m behind you, I get out of that lane and pass you in a hurry.






17 Responses

I get it about male vs. female drivers. What I don’t get is when my son got his license the added cost of adding him on to my policy was a lot more than it will be for his sister.

I_AM_ME on June 5, 2015 at 3:45 pm

    The reason that male drivers pay higher insurance rates, at least until the age of 25 is because, statistically, they are far worse drivers than females. They speed more, are more aggressive and get more traffic tickets for more offenses. That is fact. Does this mean that ALL males are bad drivers? No, of course not. But to say that females are all bad drivers is ridiculous. When I spot someone driving erratically, I look to see if they are using a cellphone. Almost always the answer is yes. Male and female. When I’m on the interstate (which I am a LOT) and I see someone speeding and weaving in and out if traffic so they can pass everyone, it is invariably a male. When I get behind someone driving too slowly for traffic, I generally find they are female, elderly, or on a cellphone (or texting, which is worse).

    My parents live in a small town in Michigan. Whenever I see a news story about someone driving through the window of a store, I know it’s someone elderly. Sure enough, it always is. When someone gets confused and drives the wrong way on a one-way street they are usually elderly, drunk or a tourist. I don’t know why people feel it’s OK to break traffic laws when they are out of town, but there you go.

    Elderly people have lower insurance rates, but I sure don’t understand why. I worked for an insurance company and they said it’s because, statistically, they drive fewer miles, they drive more slowly, and they have fewer accidents. When they do have accidents it is usually because they crash into something at low speed. I think they are a hazard to other drivers. We took my dad’s keys away because he has dementia and would become disoriented and get lost if he was more than a block from home. Mom can barely walk (they are both 90), but she insists she could drive if we’d let her. I told her if she can get herself dressed, walk to the car, stow her walker in the back seat and get behind the wheel and drive herself to the license office, I’ll let them give her a driving test. So far she has not even dressed herself.

    One of my friends said her dad has peripheral neuropathy and cannot feel his hands or feet, but still drives. He tends to crash into things at low speeds because he doesn’t know how hard he is pushing the brake or the accelerator. He can’t feel them. Her mother drives, but she has panic attacks and will just stop dead in the middle of the road for no reason. She has not had any accidents, but she is certainly a hazard.

    My parents’ 92 year old neighbors are interesting. He is blind, and she never learned to drive. So he drives, and she is his seeing eye passenger. When they go on long trips their son, who is deaf, is the designated driver. We ended up reporting this crew to the state.

    MIGirl on June 7, 2015 at 1:41 pm

      @Migirl, actually you are wrong about elderly insurance rates. They are generally higher. But the insurance companies are getting more subtle now. They combine several aspects into the insurance rates so it is hard to separate out the impact of being older. But I have had insurance agents tell me that rates are higher for people over 75.

      I also noticed that when elderly people have accidents of the type you mentioned, age is always mentioned, but for accidents with younger people, age isn’t emphasized as much. (I will not use the politically correct term ‘crashes’.)

      Of course there are horror stories about older drivers, and maybe a doctor’s OK should be obtained, or driving tests for people over 80 or 85, or if an older person does not have a good record. But considering the millions of older people who are driving, the types of things you mentioned are really somewhat isolated.

      The anecdotal stories you mention do not detract from any of this, again, considering the millions of older people who drive.

      Your comments seem to be in line with the general devaluation of older people becoming more and more common (Obamacare, Oprah’s wish for older people to die off, George Bush’s depriving older people of flu vaccines some years ago in order to make sure illegal aliens who were pregnant were able to get it, etc. Who can forget the liberal jokes about old Uncle George coming to Thanksgiving dinner and spouting off Fox News editorials.) You should try to put your own experiences into a somewhat wider perspective.

      Sklarr on June 7, 2015 at 8:34 pm

        And frankly, your last paragraph about blind people driving, or deaf people as designated drivers is not believable. It sounds like the liberal soap operas or novels where they try to squeeze in as many different types of victimology as possible. If you have a valid point to make you should be able to make it without phony exaggerated horror stories.

        Sklarr on June 7, 2015 at 8:46 pm

          And your foolish exaggerated language gives you away. In the preceding paragraph, talking about having ‘panic attacks’ and ‘tending to crash’? Do you really think the authorities would permit an older person to continue driving if she kept ‘tending to crash’? No intelligent person reading this post will believe these false anecdotes.

          You just don’t like older people very much.

          Sklarr on June 7, 2015 at 9:28 pm

The exception for teen males is valid because teen males tend to be more aggressive and risk taking on the road then teen females.

And insurance companies charge accordingly. So sex-linked premium differentials are not discriminatory and have been around a long time.

NormanF on June 5, 2015 at 4:10 pm

The difference in teen males being more expensive on automobile insurance is more than just the fact that they tend to be more aggressive (which is true). But also, teenage girls more often get out of traffic tickets! They shed tears or flash a pretty smile, and the cops gives them a warning. I know of VERY few young, pretty girls that get tickets. That’s the case even though they get pulled over almost as often.

PDMac60 on June 5, 2015 at 4:20 pm

“Debbie on the Road” :O 😉

Worry on June 5, 2015 at 4:52 pm

I must disagree with anyone who drives “aggressively” when that term is used to describe forcing your vehicle into positions on the road that put others at risk. If you’re just talking about passing slow drivers, fine, but I would rather call that “assertive” driving. “Aggressive” driving to me means driving with emotions involving anger–and people should not drive when angry. “Aggressive” driving is also associated with “road rage.”

There was a case of road rage recently that made national news. This woman was probably already over the edge emotionally, but when combined with overly aggressive driving, the results were lethal. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/road-rage-suspect-sobs-court-murder-navy-biker-article-1.2245457

Ralph Adamo on June 5, 2015 at 8:30 pm

Regarding ‘aggressive’ vs. ‘assertive’ driving, excellent point RA, and I totally agree,

theShadow on June 5, 2015 at 9:53 pm

The only reason men are considered higher risk drivers, vis-à-vis women, is because there are more of them, and that equates to higher profits for the insurance industry.

King David on June 5, 2015 at 10:46 pm

I know the NYT study goes back some years, and, perhaps earlier traffic tickets had more validity.

While I understand that some of the more recent tickets may also have validity, we should remember the new traffic environment with speed cameras, red light cameras, all kinds of new fines and protected areas such as school districts with sharply reduced, and in some cases ridiculous speeds (because, after all, the children, most of whom will grow up to become bums and leeches on society), are our most precious resource. (if that is the case, I’d hate to see the other resources)

Given the revenue-enhancement procedures applied to traffic tickets, they are really becoming harder to avoid.

None of this is meant to excuse improper driving or defend the Rubios — I would never vote for Rubio — but we need to keep in mind the increasingly oppressive driving environment, as well. Don’t expect the NYT to criticize the semi-totalitarian monitoring of driving.

Little Al on June 6, 2015 at 12:44 am

    I have to admit, I agree with you on some of the school zone speed limits. Mrs. Rubio got a ticket for driving (I think) 35 in a school zone where the limit is 15. Frankly, 15 is barely moving. Plus, if Miami is anything like Atlanta, school zones are favorite fund raising areas for the cops. I know when school is in session, I will see cops with radar guns at almost every school zone in the area. The limit in our school zones is 25, and you frequently have to slow from 45 to 25 in a very short distance or get a ticket. The cops just line the cars up on the side of the road and have one guy on the radar gun and another handing out the tickets.

    That said, Mrs. Rubio, a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader (a job taken to pay for med school, no doubt), is something of a menace behind the wheel. Either that, or not very observant of the speed traps in her community. While I don’t agree with Rubio’s politics, making him Prez or Veep would be a public service because it would take HER off the roads.

    MIGirl on June 7, 2015 at 1:50 pm

Obama had nearly as many, but he was never vetted, so never mind.

JeffT on June 6, 2015 at 12:58 pm

Debbie:

Judge Edward Avadenka; Who else has he helped? Do you have any other dirt on him? People have been posthumously vindicated. So they should also be posthumously found guilty or at least at the minimum be alleged to have done wrong. I have a very low tolerance of dishonest public servants, especially of those who are in the justice business!

Irish Lass on June 6, 2015 at 3:10 pm

“apparent gigolo Marc Shulman” Who did he service? Was it apparently Mrs. Avadenka? If not then apparently who did he service?

Irish Lass on June 6, 2015 at 4:32 pm

The way you hate on women all the time, Debbie, one would naturally think you must be transitioning. Will you be known as Dougie? Donnie?

Marlin on July 1, 2015 at 9:35 pm

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