History Main / AsianDrivers

* In the ComedyCentral Roast of Creator/WilliamShatner, Shatner at one point jokes about how brave a program ''Franchise/StarTrek'' was. For God's sake, they let an Asian guy[[note]]Sulu[[/note]] drive!

The stereotype being used on Asians outside of Asia likely has to do with anti-immigrant prejudices. In the US, it doesn't help that some of the prominent Asian immigrant communities are in UsefulNotes/{{California}}, [[BigApplesauce New]] [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkState York]] and [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]], three states where the populations in general have reputations (backed by [[http://www.gmacinsurance.com/SafeDriving/StateRankings.asp GMAC Insurance's annual study]], no less) for [[DrivesLikeCrazy being terrible drivers]] regardless of race. This likely means the Asian immigrants are convenient scapegoats for traffic accidents.

[[folder: Memes ]]

* [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/madam-kim-%EA%B9%80%EC%97%AC%EC%82%AC Madam Kim]]

[[/folder]]

* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' - After the spaceship crash-lands with Bulma driving, Krillin quips that this is why [[WomenDrivers women shouldn't drive]]. Bulma retorts that that's rich coming from the Asian (though, this being anime, isn't she ''both''?)

->''"[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esKwU3BrUfM What the fuck is a car? Asian kryptonite]]?"''
-->--'''Carlos Mencia'''

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Averted. With Keiichi Tsuchiya, known as the [[BadassDriver drift king]]. He invented drifting. He is the editorial supervisor for the ''InitialD'' anime. He even managed to drive [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome with one hand taped to the wheel with duct tape.]]
* But played straight in FormulaOne. The category has had 24 drivers hailing from Asian countries (20 of them from Japan), and only three of them managed to score over 10 points throughout their career's spans (which, considering a career's time, is a measly total): Satoru Nakajima (16 points in five seasons), Takuma Sato (44 points in seven seasons) and Kamui Kobayashi (125 points in three-and-a-bit seasons - granted, this was after F1's scoring system was changed to one similar to what Indy uses).
** Of particular note is Yuji Ide, who signed for the Japanese Super Aguri team in 2006. He drove for four races, qualifying last in all of them and retiring from all but one, before the FIA ''revoked his Super License'', effectively banning him from the sport. His driving was ''that'' bad (and that's without mentioning the San Marino GP incident, in which he crashed into Christijan Albers' car and sent him ''flying'').
** Takuma Sato (who, it's worth noting, was Ide's team-mate that year) later switched to IndyCar and ended up subverting the trope during the 2012 Indianapolis 500. He drove rather well for over one hundred laps and at one point became the first Japanese driver to lead the race. [[spoiler: He then double subverted the trope when he tried to pass Dario Franchitti on the first turn of the final lap, spun out, and crashed. At least two other crashes had occurred on that turn in that same race.]]
* [[http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/10/not-news-south-korean-woman-passes-driving-test-news/ South Korean woman passes driving test after 950 attempts.]]
* Some of the contestants on ''Series/CanadasWorstDriver'' simply happen to be Asian. The "winner" of ''Canada's Worst Driver 3'' was Jason Zhang and Emily Wang was runner-up on the fourth series. But are they worse than non-Asian contestants? [[SubvertedTrope Heck, no.]]
* Japan is the only developed country where more people are killed ''by'' cars than in them. This is most likely because a lot of surface roads in Japan are ridiculously narrow and don't have sidewalks.
* GeorgeTakei has lampshaded this trope on his Twitter.
-->“I tell young people today, I broke that Asian driver stereotype decades ago [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries by being the best helmsman in the galaxy]].”
* Frequent changes of traffic laws may also be a point. Recently in China, passing through the cross road during YELLOW light becomes illegal.
* The Fung Wah bus company, which transported passengers between the New York and Boston [[FriendlyNeighborhoodChinatown Chinatowns]], was [[http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/03/28/feds-issue-imminent-hazard-order-for-fung-wah-bus-line-order-immediate-shut-down/ shut down]] in part because it could not ensure its drivers were qualified and did not adequately test them for drugs or alcohol.
* There have been several scandals in Great Britain where "[[IdenticalLookingAsians ringers]]" have been paid to impersonate Asians due for a driving test. (Note that to British people, the first association of "Asian" is with Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis). One man arrested for fraud and impersonation was found to have sat the driving test on behalf of at least fifty other asians; he was only found out when an examiner at the test centre he'd visited once too often recognised his face. This leads to the appalling conclusion that at least fifty people, all Asian, with little training and false licences, had been driving on British roads.
* In China, the traffic laws aren't very well regulated or enforced. Mix in a large and rushed population with a "every man for himself" cultural attitude, the results aren't very pretty.
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* British sketch show ''NotTheNineOClockNews'' parodied what was then a commercial for FIAT cars with ''Designed By Computer.'' (shots of car in outline desgn rotating on computer screen) ''Built by Robots'' (Shots of cars on assembly line being tooled by long sophisticated robotic arm). ''But driven by Italians'' (Shots of rush-hour traffic in Rome and attendent motoring mayhem.)

* ''{{Crash}}'', for all its racial-awareness apparently couldn't resist a terrible Asian driver with an horrible accent to cause said car accident.

** ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce'' averts this by making the Blue Ranger a racecar driver, albeit from the future. Although, he does seem to end up in traffic school a lot.

** Of particular note is Yuji Ide, who signed for the Japanese Super Aguri team in 2006. He drove for four races, qualifying last in all of them and retiring from all but one, before the FIA ''revoked his Super License'', effectively banning him from the sport. His driving was ''that'' bad.

* There have been several scandals in Great Britain where "ringers" have been paid to impersonate Asians due for a driving test. (Note that to British people, the first association of "Asian" is with Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis). One man arrested for fraud and impersonation was found to have sat the driving test on behalf of at least fifty other asians; he was only found out when an examiner at the test centre he'd visited once too often recognised his face. This leads to the appalling conclusion that at least fifty people, all Asian, with little training and false licences, had been driving on British roads.

* But played straight in ''FormulaOne''. The category has had 24 drivers hailing from Asian countries (20 of them from Japan), and only three of them managed to score over 10 points throughout their career's spans (which, considering a career's time, is a measly total): Satoru Nakajima (16 points in five seasons), Takuma Sato (44 points in seven seasons) and Kamui Kobayashi (65 points in three seasons - granted, this was after F1's punctuation system was changed to one similar to what Indy uses).
** Takuma Sato later switched to IndyCar and ended up subverting the trope during the 2012 Indianapolis 500. He drove rather well for over one hundred laps and at one point became the first Japanese driver to lead the race. [[spoiler: He then double subverted the trope when he tried to pass Dario Franchitti on the first turn of the final lap, spun out, and crashed. At least two other crashes had occurred on that turn in that same race.]]

* A reverse example where Italy from ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' [[DrivesLikeCrazy drives so crazily]] that Japan makes a safer car just so he never has to endure that experience again. Of course, this [[IncrediblyLamePun drives]] right into another stereotype: that of Italians being [[DrivesLikeCrazy ridiculously unsafe drivers]].

->''"What the fuck is a car? Asian kryptonite?"''

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Stan and Roger were dropping Steve at school when a car crashed into them Roger yells "Watch where you're going, Asian!".

* In the ComedyCentral Roast of Creator/WilliamShatner, Shatner at one point jokes about how brave a program ''Franchise/StarTrek'' was. For God's sake, they let an Asian guy[[hottip:*:Sulu]] drive!

In RealLife, this may have something to do with lax traffic laws in Asian countries and the fact that widespread automobile ownership in Asian countries is a new phenomenon for millions of people whose parents could only dream of driving a car. The result is that many of the defensive driving training and techniques developed and stressed in the west have not yet been as widely adapted in Asia. Finally, probably as a result of the workaholism encouraged by many Asian cultures, they are generally in a hurry.

* Hikaru Sulu accidentally leaves the external inertial dampers (aka, the "[[LaymensTerms Parking Brake]]") on the ''Enterprise'' in ''Film/StarTrek XI''. Luckily, this mistake saves the ''Enterprise'' by causing them to arrive late to Vulcan, preventing them from being obliterated like the rest of the fleet by Nero.

* Hikaru Sulu accidentally leaves the Parking Brake on (or external inertial dampers) on the Enterprise in ''Film/StarTrek XI''. Luckily, it saves the ship.

* In one episode of ''Series/ModernFamily'', Lily's Asian pediatrician complains that her mother expected her to get married and be a mommy instead of having a career. She says "The only way she'll be happy is if I'm some Asian stereotype, but that just isn't me." Then she drives off, hitting Mitchel and Cameron's garbage pail and a car parked across the street.

* WebVideo/EatYourKimchi frequently refer to the bad driving that they encounter. In the Halloween episode they refer to an approaching vehicle as a "murder car".