Driving in Qatar



First I must apologize to the wonderful drivers in New Jersey.  After driving up and down the East Coast more times than I wish to remember, I totally believed that the drivers in New Jersey were the worst.  I now know that the fine drivers in New Jersey are not even close to the drivers in Qatar!

I have learned a few of the traffic laws here:

• After a light turns red, the next 3 cars are welcome to continue through the intersection.
• If you get a green light, you should immediately hit the accelerator and see how close you can come to hitting the cars that have run the red light.  You also get extra points if you scare the hell out of the poor people that were trying to get across street in the cross walk area.  Clearly, they should of walked quicker - it is their own fault.
• If you find an open road, you are allowed to go whatever speed you want - even if it is a narrow residential road.
• There is no reason to ever Yield - where ever you are going is the most important aspect of this concept and everyone else better watch out.
• Never let another driver know you are weak!  Always act aggresively at the wheel of your car.
• If anyone tries to get in your way, you should get as close as possible to their vehicle.  If there is a hair of space - you are not close enough!
• You should get as many family members in the car as possible.  Those seat belts are just a suggestion so please put the kids on your laps it saves space for others.
• Car seats - pain in the neck.  The child is much more comfortable being held on the mother's, or more often the nanny's, lap.

Now Qatar is trying to get a handle on this.  They have a motor vehicle accident rate that is extremely high.  Believe it or not, they are bench marking the accident rate in the U.S. as their goal.  Now in order to do this, they are doing 2 things.

1. Getting rid of the roundabouts!  They are everywhere!  The country did a fantastic job making them very beautiful but the city now has 2 million people.  Two million aggressive drivers in roundabouts does not work.  Especially when the drivers have no concept of there being lanes.  They just drive willy nilly.  Again, where ever they are going is way more important than your journey or the intergrity of your car's side panels or bumpers. And remember there is no YIELDING!
2. The Qatar government has stopped giving a driver's license to certain classes of workers - mostly the lowest paid workers.  This was to decrease the number of drivers on the roads.  BUT, the worst drivers I have seen, are all wearing thobes and driving really nice SUVs or sports cars.  It seem that the citizens of Qatar are the worst drivers!  Clearly, it is their road and they do what they want.

So, how do I get around you ask?  Well for work, a bus comes to my building and picks up a group of us and drives us to work.  If I need to leave the office for business, a driver takes me around.  At 330 a bus drives me back home.  If I need to go somewhere not during working hours that I cannot walk to, then I call Abdul. He runs the car service I use.  A car shows up to take me where ever I want.  I am very careful to not look out the windows - I may have a stroke.  Better to just look down at your phone or something.

So it is important to note, that I am counting the days till I can get a driver's license.  I am still waiting for my residency permit. Once this is in hand, I have to pass a written test and then a driving test - given for women at 0530! The government will not accept my driver's license from the U.S. despite the fact that they do accept many other countries licenses.
(They must think I am from New Jersey)

This game they play around here called driving could be a lot of fun and certainly part of the adventure!  I will wear a seatbelt.