Cracking Down on Reckless Driving

Two articles caught my eye in the Dec. 17th issue of the Khaleej Times.

One said a new radar was being installed on Mussafah Bridge to catch speeders. I hope this will help prevent another tragic accident there. The other article said, "Around 71 reckless drivers of various nationalities were detained for a week and had to carry out community service on the capital's roads and in schools for 48 hours. Their vehicles have been impounded for a month."

If you meet someone new to Abu Dhabi and chat for a few minutes, invariably the conversation will get around to how dangerous it is to drive here. One often sees either a serious accident or the wreckage from one that has just happened. It used to send chills up my spine but now I am used to it. (I've been told it's even worse in Doha, Qatar.)

There's a website in Abu Dhabi that lists all tickets for driving violations by the license-plate number. A friend's husband typed in her license number and they were surprised to see that she'd gotten a ticket. It was for talking on her cell phone while driving. Noone stopped her at the time, but since my friend hardly ever answers her phone while driving she remembers the one time she did. She answered the call because it was her husband(!). Unbeknownst to my friend, the police were watching.

Maybe these are signs that Abu Dhabi is taking steps to make things safer on the roads here.

Dangerous Driving

People drive at excessively-high speeds in Abu Dhabi. Car accidents here are often fatal. Twice this week, five members of a single family were killed in car accidents in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

On Sunday, a speeding car slammed into the car in front of it, causing the second car to hit a third car. The driver of the third car, a 26-year-old Emirati, his 18-year-old sister, and his three young nieces were all killed instantly as their vehicle was thrown into oncoming traffic on Musaffah Bridge, Gulf News reported.

Tragedy struck again on Thursday, when five members of an Asian family died in a highway accident in Al Ain. Their Land Cruiser was struck by a speeding BMW and "flipped over several times before crashing into the iron fencing by the roadside," according to the Khaleej Times. Three of the victims were in their 20s or 30s. The other two were 50 and 65 years old. In addition, a two-year-old and a 3-month-old were brought to the hospital in serious condition.

I grew up in suburban New York. Once I got my driver's license, my father made me drive every weekday of the summers into New York City. I worked at Tiffany & Co. while off from college. I never minded driving in New York City.

Shortly after getting married, I moved to New Hampshire, where people are exceedingly polite on the roads. Initially I had to hold myself back from honking the horn if the driver in front of me didn't immediately go when the light turned green. After all, I might end up sitting next to that person in church.

Abu Dhabi is home to a lot of aggressive, hazardous driving. No one seems in a rush in this country until they get behind the steering wheel. While many drivers are skilled at slicing across lanes, there are a fair number of absolute lunatics on the roads here.

A few of my personal driving habits: if possible, I stay out of the left lane. It's known as "suicide lane" because of the speeding cars that zoom up behind you from out of nowhere. They flash their high beams into your rear window, as if to say, "get out of the way or I'll drive right over you," which I think they would gladly do.

I also take my foot off the gas when approaching a traffic light, just in case it's about to turn yellow. Once it turns yellow it will turn red about three seconds later. And I know what could easily happen if I sped through a red light in Abu Dhabi.

(M took the photo above on a rare rainy day in Abu Dhabi. Fortunately, there were no fatalities in this accident.)