“Despite the presence of a large number of Saudi women drivers in Bahrain, not a single case of traffic violation has been registered against them,†Al-Riyadh Arabic daily quoted Sameem as saying.
Bahrain’s traffic department has issued driving licenses to 1,107 Saudi women, Sameem confirmed. He said Saudi women have displayed exceptional control and concentration while driving.
However, he pointed out that Saudi men had caused 38 accidents, two of them fatal, in the last five months.
Arab News :: 4 Apr ’06
We knew that! We see them on the road all the time, okay they might meander into your lane once in a while, but nothing like the Saudi male drivers, those we tend to give the right of way all the time!
So will it take an act of God Himself to get the Saudis to allow their women to drive?
Of course it will!
Oh hang on… maybe not, the magic of the scalpel can hasten things a bit!
Comments
Mr. Mahmood,
Let me begin by saying that I don’t presume to be an expert on traffic laws in either my own country or in Bahrain. I have also never seen any conduct by women drivers that comes even remotely close to the ghastly things I’ve seen men do while behind the wheel in heavy traffic.
However, the “popular advice” among my little group of expatriates runs like this:
If you are in a traffic accident, it is probably going to be YOUR fault.
If you are in a traffic accident and the other driver is a woman, it is DEFINITELY YOUR FAULT!
So my question is: are they being good drivers, or are they simply not being prosecuted? I mean, not ONE case? Statistically it seems unlikely. But I leave it to you and the local experts to educate me on this.
I have no smarts to enlighten the topic, nor the wit to do more than enjoy tremendously you and your great friends here. My thoughts and prayers are with all the victims of bigotry, inane generalizations, and senseless war. Nature does a nasty job on her own of creating chaos in lives. Thank you so much for your blog, thank you to all who comment, who are teaching me..with some entertainment tossed in now and again.
A woman driver in Indiana, US
Yes, it’s incredible, isn’t it?
In the comments in a (English-language) Saudi blog I once saw a man state that this subject was overrated and that in his opinion, “everybody should decide for himself” if women are allowed to drive – meaning, every man should be allowed to decide whether or not his “own” women are allowed to drive.
What about allowing the simple concept that took us so many centuries to grasp in the West: That women and men are equally human beings, with equal rights and obligations?
But maybe Saudi men are actually afraid: Afraid that if women get equal rights and can walk about and drive and do business as they please, they might actually turn out to be stronger and more skillful than men – and now, in what kind of misery would THAT land us?
I believe trusting oneself is an important part of not being intimidated by (and thus, not needing to oppress) women.
I’ll take your word for this Mahmood, but it goes against all logic. See below:
(1) Saudi = Terrible driver
(2) Woman = Terrible driver
==> Saudi + Woman = The most reckless driver that the roads of this world has ever seen
Or maybe the logic is that they cancel each other out to produce a nice safe driver. What do you reckon?
Except maybe Chan’ad the women in question feel like they have something to prove and hence are showing the World that they have the “Right Stuff”? Does this theory make the grade?
Chan’ad in this case it is most probable that two negatives make a positive!
Saudis can’t drive, period! Just go to KSA and see for yourselves how driving there sucks! It’s total anarchy on the roads there!
Expats living in Saudi have become like the Saudis themselves in order to survive, and the first-timers of them do the same in Bahrain thinking it’s just like there. I have had expats in Saudi cars nearly hitting me because of changing lanes without signalling or looking who’s actually driving on the lane they’re about to change to.
And don’t get me started on the little kids driving there! The American Department of State has some notes on how dangerous driving in KSA is.
Oh, and one note about Saudi female drivers. They might not all be bad but I also was nearly hit by one of them, just like Saudi males.
LiB Team,
Isn’t nice to be so sure about your views ?!
I cannot disagree that driving in KSA sucks! and be sure that as you go west in KSA (from Dammam to Riyadh and then Jeddah) driving gets much more dengerous!. Yet, thinking a bit about it .. specially with the note of expats in KSA.. it shows that the problem is not really in the people but in the way laws (in general and specially traffic law) are taking care of in KSA!. In the case of traffice .. the law is no law!. You create your own style and make sure others will follow!.
One last thing .. one incident shouldn’t create a conclusion!.
Talking about Saudi driving, I was returning from Kuwait and got stopped just outside Dammam because I was speeding and got caught by a radar which was stealthily hidden. I was one of several, probably tens, of cars stopped at that time.
I got out and instead of apologising to the officer, I acted like a smart-alec and am thankful to this day I wasn’t shown the inside of one of their prisons:
Officer: do you know how fast you were going?
Me: well, anything under 1,000 KPH is surely okay in Saudi, right?
Officer: (poker face blank look comes upon his face, and slowly boiling)
Me: (o’ oh!)
Officer: trying to be funny are you? Come with me! (starts walking off)
Me: no no no, I am soooo sorry, I just came from Kuwait and am anxious to get home (blah blah blah etc until his soffened a bit and got into his brotherly advice mode)
Officer: do you know at that speed if a tyre blows not only you are dead, but everybody around you. I’ll let you go this time, I’ll note your car’s number, but if we ever catch you speeding again… (he didn’t need to continue, while I was backing off and profusely thanking the guy) Drive safe now.. off you go!
Me: (incredulous! no ticket!) thank you SIR! God be with you.
I was nabbed doing 212kph, in my old 911.
I sold that car. I still see it being driven around the island and hope its new owner is taking care of “porky” well!
So yes, I agree with Ahmed O, the rules are there, but not applied which gives rise to stupidity like that I have displayed at that time.
Without knowing anything about women driwers anywhere else in the world but in Denmark, I would tend to listen to the insurance companies.
There are some insurance companies that gives female drivers lower rates on their car insurance.
Women have more minor incidents during parking without anyone getting hurt (cheap accidents) but far less numbers of major accidents, where people get hurt (expensive accidents).
I was caught doing 180 kph from Dammam to Khobar in 1988. I told the officer I was late for class, so he let me go. It was 11:30 pm .
I agree with you Ahmed O that an isolated incident isn’t a measurement, but I am hearing more and more stories about female drivers running red lights at the speed of light, skidding their weels in the face of others etc… now I know that’s a minority but they are more noticed than others.
Plus you get the other “underslow” drivers who take the fast lane and drive at 40 KPH, now wouldn’t that cause accidents as well? I know a child of a close friend dying because of such idiots..
I am not saying that these minor cases are the general ones, yet they have to be brought to attention.
Cheers…
“So will it take an act of God Himself to get the Saudis to allow their women to drive?â€Â
Sure, it will take an act of God. But, unfortunately, it is a God that resides in palaces and mosques on our holy desert!
Adel that was a CLASSIC! Brilliant! 😀
Absolutely Aya. Agreed.
I remember when the causeway opened back in 1985 the no one incentive for young Saudis to visit Bahrain was seeing the women drive, they thought they could charm them whith their expensive and fancy cars or their looks. Every good looking women driver was a target at that time, and a lot of the Saudi’s ended up in police station’s. In Saudi in the early eighties if you drive or not cover your face then you are a bitch, and I’m not exaggerating here. Their mentality has changed a bit since then, to what degree I don’t know cos I don’t know any Saudis in their late teens anymore, my freinds are late thirties like me now.
When you started to reminisce about the 80s Adel, you already declared your age!
I agree with you; however, and I have noticed that kind of behaviour and more at that time.
I can also relate a story a bit earlier than ’85. I remember walking back from the khabbaz (baker) one early morning in our old neighbourhood (Al-Hammam) and I was stopped by a Saudi asking where “Garandole” was… I directed him to the area of Al-Mo’men mosque and told him just to go in any open door! (almost all doors were never closed, let alone locked in those days – excuse me while I put my dentures in!)
Al-Mo’men mosque area was one of the most notorious in our district and they were known to beat the shit out of people just for looking at them, let alone enter a house uninvited and thinking of sexual favours!
Never heard what happened to the guy…