(Plain) Mennonite driving habits

[Josh]

This is not aimed at any particular group, but is a generalisation I feel comfortable making about most plain and conservative Anabaptists who drive cars and trucks. When I say "Mennonite" below I am including all CAs and CMs (although I don't know much about Brethren driving habits).

As a rule, Mennonites seem to drive hard. Hard acceleration, hard braking. On Sunday mornings, minivans are filled and then are driven at a high rate of speed to church. One of my worldly neighbours once asked one of my brethren why the "minivan 500" is necessary on Sunday mornings, and why we can't just leave 5 minutes earlier, seeing as most of us live 5 - 15 minutes from church.

Driveways are treated as a slalom, kicking up gravel and seeing how fast a car can get going, sometimes leading to accidents. Total losses have happened when a young person (often younger than 16) goes flying up and down the driveway to the mailbox and ends up running off the road. Excessive speed pulling into driveways has resulted in scraped wheels, fenders, and sides of doors when concrete blocks or other obstacles beside the driveway are not properly accounted for.

Ultimately, a question should be raised about stewardship: how would Jesus drive? I am not saying one has to religiously drive the speed limit, but hard acceleration and hard braking wear out cars and also can present a danger both to the driver, his occupants, and to other motorists. When a young person totals multiple vehicles before they reach their 21st birthday, I feel perhaps some counsel is needed - or perhaps group repentance for all of our driving habits.

Cell phones seem to have made the problem worse (and which is now reflected in brotherhood mutual aid premiums for automobile sharing plans): I think we all know that texts are being sent, WhatsApp status are being updated, social media posts created, and photos being taken by drivers behind the wheel - sometimes in minivans, sometimes in sporty, lowered cars with tinted windows, and sometimes in heavy commercial trucks. I question if the Christian needs to have this activity in their life.

[Soloist]

I doubt Jesus would have been speeding.

Perhaps a good fix for this problem would be to start following the law of the land even if it’s not enforced as it was meant to safeguard peoples lives.

With that being said, I’ve seen Mennonites with cell phone in hand in states with hand free laws but I haven’t seen the other problems Josh mentioned in Oregon at least.

[steve-in-kville]

Every time someone fails to stop for the school bus in front of our house, its always a Mennonite lady on a cell phone driving a minivan. And I mean always

[mike]

We were at Kingdom Fellowship Weekend just three days ago. I just heard that a young lady from Wyoming who was at KFW was killed today by a semi-truck which ran a stop sign. The car was completely obliterated.

In a vehicle, we are much of the time inches from death, whether from our own actions or those of others.

[AndersonD]

I had Driver's Ed when I was 15 and I think it should be mandatory.

As for Mennonites driving too fast, I agree that it's a problem. It's a subject that is preached about in my group and for good reason. One brother was suspended recently for racking up the points.

[RZehr]

Two of our more recent new church/school buildings both initially generated many irate complaints from the neighbors, due to Mennonites speeding to church too fast through the neighborhood. These were in locations where there wasn’t a church house prior. The preachers and congregation kept reminding everyone to slow down as they come to church. Eventually the complaints stopped. I believe it was because people slowed down. But I guess it is conceivable that the neighborhood just gave up, or just got used to it.

[steve-in-kville]

Some years ago, the local Mid-Atlantic district was gonna build a new church and school in northern Lancaster County. The people that lived in the area of the proposed building sight showed up at a township meeting and objected to the plan due to the "hundreds of black cars that would be traveling the street."

And yes, that was quoted in the paper. Made me smile a bit.

[JimFoxvog]

I'm of the non-Plain (although pro-plain) Mennonite variety. I, and quite a few others, drive a hybrid. Our game is to see how many miles per gallon we can get. This means gentle driving, mostly using regenerative braking rather than the friction brakes.

[Josh]

I'm of the non-Plain (although pro-plain) Mennonite variety. I, and quite a few others, drive a hybrid. Our game is to see how many miles per gallon we can get. This means gentle driving, mostly using regenerative braking rather than the friction brakes.

These would be good values for plain people to adopt, and they meet principles of simplicity, modesty, economy, thrift, and stewardship.

[Grace]

When a certain Mennonite High School left out, many of the people in the area, complained about the teenagers engaging in "cowboy" style driving and speeding.