This…is not helping the stereotype
New South Wales resident Matt O’Donnell had quite the morning earlier this week (June 24, 2020) when, after presumably hearing a loud bang, he peeked out of his kitchen window mid-dish wash session to find a Toyota Yaris driven by an older Asian lady perched on top of another car, over the parking lines.
What makes it somewhat funny is how Matt goes about filming his discovery, with a nonchalant whistle and a priceless zoom-in at the bewildered driver.
Check out his video below.
His video’s since gone viral on another Instagram account @BrownCardigan where his video’s garnered over half a million views.
The video also gained some traction on Reddit, posted on the /r/IdiotsInCars subreddit with over 50,000 upvotes and 1,200 comments making it into the Top 3 videos for the week so, clearly people like this video and have something to say about it.
In the video we can see an older Asian lady in her Toyota Yaris whose either misjudged which pedal is which or thought she was in reverse when she really was in drive. Regardless, her mistake’s perched her atop another car and, as her face shows, she’s confused what to do next.
To address the obvious elephant in the room, Matt is referring to this Family Guy clip.
This stereotype has been around for a long time now and is so deeply engrained in non-Asian countries with an Asian immigrant population that no amount of explanation will convince them otherwise.
Even though first generation Asian adult immigrants learn to drive later in life compared to their American counterparts, acclimating to a driving style governed by laws and not mere suggestions, it’s surprising that Asians, according to the NHTSA, still have lower traffic fatality rates among all other ethnicities.
Does Australia even keep such detailed stats?
While humorous, it’s adding captions like the one Matt added that perpetuate a stereotype that’s statistically just wrong.
But OK, Matt, go get your clout.
