This week I found an interesting link. I found it by going to the Internet Search (as I so often do) and starting a search with the term 'cars'. The link that I decided to explore was titled "Freedom Cars Taxi, Cabs, Bikes, Vans, Safe Travel". Clicking on to this location, I did not know what to expect. When I got there, I discovered that it was the homepage a company called 'Freedom Cars'. This company was started in January of 1994 in London and was inspired by attacks on gay and lesbians by homophobic cab drivers. Its main purpose is to serve the gay and lesbian community of London, however, if one is travelling to London and desires the services of Freedom Car, they can contact them through e-mail and find out more about obtaining their services. The services of the company, which has fifty full-time drivers, is mainly utilized by gays and women travelling alone. Freedom Cars also has available, for special occasions, a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud MKII, previously owned by Paul McCartney, and driven by a gay chauffeur, for rent.
I believe that this homepage serves a great service to a type of people with common interests. Yes, it is true that homosexuality is considered 'taboo' by most of society and often people act on their beliefs by violating the freedom of others and they usually get away with it. There is a problem with homophobia, otherwise, the word wouldn't exist. I don't believe that there is anything wrong with a community of gays and lesbians providing a service to others like themselves who are vulnerable to the attacks made on them by the largely homophobic public. For Freedom Cars, it seems that safety and comfort are the services they are providing.
The existence of the homepage of Freedom Cars is extremely useful in Traffic Psychology in that it shows that very often, people's prejudices/beliefs play a part in travel and traffic. Cab drivers attacking homosexual clientele are a great example. What would such a person do if they are stuck in traffic and someone is tailgating them? Would they accuse the offender of being homosexual? Or would they, because they feel that the offender is indeed a homosexual, purposely cause an accident by speeding up and then slaming on their brakes, causing the offending car to slam into them? Another way to look at it would be seeing it from the discriminated against homosexual. Do the ways that people treat him/her cause them to harbor feelings of hatred for 'straight motorists'? Or, are they scared to drive in traffic for fear that others will attack them or cause them harm simply for being a homosexual? It's funny how sexual orientation can affect traffic.
Check out teammates Jason Nakasato and Sharla Supnet for their Week 6 scoop!
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