byootaful

I was driving Phill home recently quite late at night when all of a sudden, a car zoomed up behind me, moved into the lane next to me and drew level. A male passenger in the back seat stuck his head out the window and screamed “F*#&ing P-Platers!” as the driver pressed the accelerator to the floor and sped away.

There was a beat of silence, then I huffed: “Well that’s not very nice!”

Duuuude. I was doing the speed limit, driving safely as the designated driver, but the guys in that car, who were most likely extremely drunk, simply saw my P-plates and made up their minds about me. I am so sick of the stereotype we get lumped with. I remember when I had to drive on the highway into the city to go to university. The majority of drivers speeding were men in business suits in fancy cars – and some of them were chatting away on mobile phones! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling P-platers angels – some of them are terrible drivers I am sure, but seriously – there are terrible drivers throughout all the different stages of licencing, not just at the P-plate level.

Even though I knew I should shrug off the incident, it still put a downer on the night for me. I had a sudden urge to prove to them that I was a good driver, prove them wrong – how ridiculous is that?! Who gives a crap what they think? I find it ironic that they were the ones speeding and driving extremely dangerously, not me, the – how did they so eliquently put it – f*#&ing P-plater.

I don’t want this to turn into a debate on whether or not P-platers suck. I just wanted to get it off my chest that not all P-platers are drunk maniacs determined to cause mayhem on the roads – some of us just want to get our (very drunk) boyfriend home safely after a good night out.