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2006-02-22 Arabia
Saudi Consultative Council Refuses to Discuss Female Driving
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Posted by Fred 2006-02-22 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11130 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 As you can see this article is a little old, but women drivers seem to be good news for the roads. The argument is that they are less competitive (or testosterone driven). In Arab countries, where women don't drive they have higher traffic-related death rates, whereas in places like the UAE they are much lower. Generally God doesn't seem to be looking after Muslems on the roads.



Speeders blamed for up to 3,000 traffic deaths every month
Most Popular

Updated: 6:56 p.m. ET Dec. 13, 2005
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - On urban highways in the Middle East, cars pinball across lanes at over 100 mph and wrecks are so gory and damage so great one might think the mangled vehicles were destroyed by a bomb.

The region is plagued by some of the world’s highest accident rates, with reckless drivers and speeders blamed for some 3,000 traffic deaths per month in Arab nations.

The carnage has emerged as a public health crisis — the second-leading cause of death, after heart disease, in wealthy Persian Gulf countries — and a chief cause of gridlock gripping many of the Middle East’s fast-growing cities.

World Health Organization statistics show the “Eastern Mediterranean region” — including most Arab countries, Israel, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan — has a rate of 26.3 deaths from traffic accidents per 100,000 population. Only Africa’s rate is higher, at 28.3. In North and South America, the rate is 15.7; the rate in Europe is 14.5.
In Arab nations, it amounts to 3,000 deaths a month, according to a study by the Tunis-based Arab Road Safety Organization.

“That’s equivalent to the number of Sept. 11 victims,” Riadh Dabbou, chief of the organization, told the Gulf Traffic Convention in Dubai Monday.

Car accidents every three minutes
Gulf nations are the worst offenders in the Arab world. Dubai police say a traffic crash occurs in the city every three minutes — every two minutes during the rush home for the evening meal during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

“It’s horrifying,” said Glenn Havinoviski, a traffic technology expert with Virginia-based consultancy Wilbur Smith Associates. “You have a tremendous safety problem. More traffic means more and more accidents.”

Boomtown Dubai has mushroomed to 1.5 million people from about 20,000 in the 1950s. The number of registered cars in the city is projected to reach 800,000 next year — doubling from 2001, said Baher Abdulhai, director of the University of Toronto’s Intelligent Traffic System Center.

“You are a victim of your own success,” Abdulhai told those at the convention. “You will lose business if you don’t tackle this problem.”

In the United Arab Emirates, there are 21 traffic deaths per 100,000 people, compared to 15 in the United States and around six in Britain. Saudi Arabia has a rate as high as 30 deaths according to some figures.

Posted by incredulous 2006-02-22 00:29||   2006-02-22 00:29|| Front Page Top

#2 .com can probably confirm this but I know a few Saudi Arabians who ignore traffic lights. They told me if Allah wants them to live then nothing will happen if they run a red light. If they die in an accident then it's Allah's will. The concept of, "Gee, if I don't run the red light then I won't be killed" doesn't seem to register. It's not their fault, you see, it's Allah's will. Hopless.
Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues  2006-02-22 10:04||   2006-02-22 10:04|| Front Page Top

#3 Traffic lights, stop signs, road stripes, speed limits (lol) - these are "suggestions" - it depends upon the area and traffic level what bits are actually accepted.

Most Saudis just tap their horn when approaching an intersection in town (where you can't see anything until you actually get to it) if they have a stop sign. If no responding honk is heard - then the stop sign is irrelevant. If they do hear a honk, then it's too late. Lol.

It's much more complex at traffic lights, left turns from the right lane, right turns from the left lane - you have to see it to believe it. Even then, you may fail to comprehend what you just saw, lol.

Light-Bulb Anecdote: I was stopped at a red light, in the middle lane, at a fairly busy intersection in al Khobar back in '92. A guy in a Mercedes came up from behind me in the left lane. He slowed down, but kept rolling, slowly, through the light. He was a "somebody" I guess and trusted that no one would impede his important ass. And you know what? They didn't. I took my cue from him, thereafter. Act like you are somebody, like you own the road, like you will NOT give way, that you don't fucking care - and they get the fuck outta your way. Yes, you can (and should) draw many conclusions from this little insight. I sure did - and it was a valuable lesson in Arab-think.

Hood ornaments are aiming reticles. That stuff on the pavement is just paint, after all. Use it as you see fit.

A fair percentage of the cars and trucks on the roads in Saudi are, literally, falling apart. Rust-buckets that are not even remotely road-worthy. You learn to ID them and keep clear, just in case. I dodged a bumper, once, which fell off of a truck in front of me on the highway. Jean Paul Killey woulda been proud of my slalom work.

Saudi street intersections are often blocked off with those portable concrete barriers. Why? The Funnel. With a remarkably small number of roadblocks, they can literally shut down an entire city. The Magik Kingdom is where paranoia was perfected. This happens periodically when a manhunt is on. Or a Royal comes through town.

Speed limits are moot. Once I got the hang of it, I drove as fast as I could everywhere I went. Topped 160kph (100mph) on the highways everyday going to work and coming home. One of my favorite memories was tearing by a cop car parked on the side of the highway under and overpass. Guy was having a nap - a very common sight there. I decided to give him a thrill and moved over to the right-hand lane before I went by - rocking his car with the bow-wave of wind. Lol, watching in my rear-view as I passed, sure 'nuff, a head popped up and watched me disappear up the road.

You do learn, however, which places might be dangerous - hills, for example, where you might top it at 165kmh and find a forklift of one of those small toy vans you see in India and PakiWakiLand in your lane doing 10-40 kmh. Those, plus people backing up on the highway because they missed an exit are the two things which would really spike the pucker factor.

They used to leave wrecked cars on the side of the road all over the place. Rusting mangled hulks. Sometimes they dragged them to the cop-shop in al Khobar and parked them on a lot in front so they were clearly visible from Dhahran Blvd - the main drag. You could have a close look if you wanted, and I did, of course, and it was right out of the Arlo Guthrie song, "teeth, hair, and eyes" splattered all over the interior. That was back in the '90s. Somewhere between then and 2000, they stopped doing this and the hulks were dragged away somewhere.

Nothing will ever cure the idiocy of their wearing kaffiyehs and, thus, having a field of view about half that of a non-moron. They go to a lot of trouble to look "cool" - they won't muss 'em up by turning their heads or, gasp, not wearing them.

On topic... wymyns? Driving cars? Out there on the streets? In Saudi? ROLF! Of course not. Ignore the fact that they go to Bahrain and elsewhere and see wymyns driving everywhere - quite safely, too, thank you - this is The Land of the Two Holy Moskkks, fer crying out loud! Not happenin, insh'allah.

Funny thing is, reading this over before hitting submit, I realize I miss it. All these polite law-abiding people back here in The World really piss me off.

I guess I prefer Darwinian environments.
Posted by .com 2006-02-22 11:02||   2006-02-22 11:02|| Front Page Top

#4 lol! Great read, thanks.
Posted by 2b 2006-02-22 11:04||   2006-02-22 11:04|| Front Page Top

#5 Vroooom!
Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious  2006-02-22 11:13||   2006-02-22 11:13|| Front Page Top

#6 As I recall, in 87 when I drove a rental car in Israel, there were 3 lanes on many roads: north, south and "chicken" in the middle.
Posted by lotp 2006-02-22 11:17||   2006-02-22 11:17|| Front Page Top

#7 "Act like you are somebody, like you own the road, like you will NOT give way, that you don't fucking care - and they get the fuck outta your way."

Ah, the Boston Method...

Posted by Dave D.">Dave D.  2006-02-22 11:19||   2006-02-22 11:19|| Front Page Top

#8 Works in south-central LA too - or did in the 90s, anyway. Don't know about now, but I'm not sure what would have changed except the desire of low-riders to be seen at the stops.
Posted by lotp 2006-02-22 11:22||   2006-02-22 11:22|| Front Page Top

#9 I pulled up to an intersection once with a crusty old man riding as a passenger in my car. When a low-rider pulled up next to us and they looked over, crusty started to loudly mumble all sorts of unkind things about their parents, ancestors, personal hygiene, etc.

Just about loudly enough for them to hear, which made me more than a tad nervous. However, instead of overreacting, they started to jump their car howsoever that is done, making it bounce off the pavement.

Suddenly, something went dreadfully wrong with their shocks. Clunk! One of them went completely out, as in sheared, followed shortly thereafter by Clunk! Clunk! Clunk! as the other three either did the same or failed catastrophically in some way.

This left the body of their car sitting directly on the asphalt, unhinged from the frame.

Seeing this, crusty old man damn near had a stroke he was laughing so hard, and I thanked my lucky stars that the light had turned green.
Posted by Anonymoose 2006-02-22 11:33||   2006-02-22 11:33|| Front Page Top

#10 Who did you say it was brother?
Who was it fell by the way?
When Nissans and camels run together
Did you hear anyone pray?

CHORUS
I didn't hear nobody pray, dear brother
I didn't hear nobody pray
I heard the crash on the highway
But, I didn't hear nobody pray.

When I heard the crash on the highway
I knew what it was from the start
I went to the scene of destruction
And a picture was stamped on my heart.

There was fatwas and blood all together
Mixed with fur where they lay
Death played her hand in destruction
But I didn't hear nobody pray.


Posted by abu Roy A Kuff 2006-02-22 14:16||   2006-02-22 14:16|| Front Page Top

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