I am very grateful that I learned to drive by going to a four hour driving school rather than through Drivers Ed in high school. Something tells me that Drivers Ed would not have ever informed me what DWA was, unlike the four hour course. My proctor at the four hour course was an Asian man around the age of 50, and he went through the definitions of DWI, DUI, and then asked if anyone knew about DWA – Driving While Asian.

I kid you not, the man went on for nearly a half an hour about how most Asian people how absolutely no idea of how to drive safely, how Asian people are the most probable cause of most accidents, and even went on to give the main avenues of NYC’s various neighborhoods that have the highest of the Asian populations to have us check out their poor driving skills ourselves.

He even went on to say that DWA is the most dangerous kind of driver, then informed us that he and his daughter were pretty much the only two Asians that could drive safely, and then went on about how his wife, who was Asian, was one of the most unsafe drivers he’s ever seen.

Had I never heard of DWA, I most likely would have had to classify the Asian driver who stopped directly in the white lines of the crosswalk, which blocked the pathways cut through the snow, only to drive through the red light after I walked behind the car yesterday morning, as a douche bag, instead I must take a step back and say to myself, “it’s not her fault she was born Asian.”

Thank you for simplifying my life, four hour driving course instructor.