BMW drivers: Evil, or Stupid?

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I live and drive in the Los Angeles area. Unfortunately, the freeways and streets here are filled with selfish, rude, and thoughtless drivers. It's not at all uncommon to be cut off, blocked, passed, or nearly hit by these dangerous drivers.

My informal observations indicate that the great majority of these "bad drivers" drive BMW brand automobiles. This appears to be true from Santa Barbara all the way down to Orange County. Perhaps it’s true in other areas as well.

I’ve often wondered “why?” Are selfish, rude, and thoughtless drivers attracted to BMW brand automobiles? Or, is it something about the cars themselves? Do “normal” drivers somehow become selfish, rude, and thoughtless drivers once they begin driving a BMW? Does it have anything to do with income levels or the driver’s need to “impress” by buying a car of this type? Or does it have something to do with the personality of these drivers?

I’ve long wondered these questions. I’ve wondered, are these drivers evil? They certainly cause a lot of danger, suffering, and aggravation! Or, are they just “not paying attention?” Well, yesterday the answer was handed to me on a silver platter.

I had stopped at a great middle-eastern restaurant in Glendale for some lunch, and I parked in the “3 minute loading zone” in front of a beauty salon to wait for my food to be ready (I figured it didn’t matter if I parked there on a Sunday). A gentleman from the salon politely pointed out that I was parked in his “3 minute loading zone”, and I happily moved my car out of the zone.

As I waited for my food, I noticed a BMW (of course) stop in the moving traffic lane to my left in order to get into that “3 minute loading zone” parking spot. The driver not only blocked her lane, but she moved forward at a awkward angle, and blocked the lane to the left of that as well causing both lanes of traffic to stop causing many drivers to lavish her with honking horns and appropriate hand gestures. She slowly rocked her ginormous BMW into the “3 minute loading zone” spot.

Out of the BMW came an attractive middle-aged woman, and she walked into the beauty parlor. Not more than two minutes later she came running out. I figured it was because she was just told by the salon owner that she could not park in the “3 minute loading zone”, but I was surprised as she headed for the rear passenger-side door instead of the driver door.

She was not going to move her car. No. She had instead rushed to her car to get her baby. She had forgotten she had a baby. She had forgotten she was a mother. She went back -- for her BABY.

This woman was simply a moron. Her view of the world extended exactly as far as the tip of her nose.

I propose that she blocked all of the lanes of traffic not because she was evil, but instead because she is stupid. She doesn’t know how to get into a parking spot properly, so she blocked two lanes of traffic. She’s not observant enough to realize that she’s about to park in a “3 minute loading zone” – all she sees is the beauty parlor, and all she can think to do is park in front of it. She needed her beauty treatments, and the baby was in the rear seat outside of her view, so she just went into the parlor forgetting the baby. It was probably the salon personnel who asked about the baby that actually reminded her that she had a baby.

Her view of the world is as small as her miniscule intellect. The answer was so, SO simple! From this point forward, when I observe selfish, rude, and thoughtless in people, I will assume “stupid” instead of “evil”, until proven otherwise.