A near miss....
Discussion
Following on from my unofficial Dubai Land Speed Record attempt the other week I decided to put my Boxster S up for sale - I do too many 'boring' freeway miles with my job and the temptation to smash through that boredom at 7000rpm is just too much.
So it's up for sale and I've stopped using it to keep the miles down, which leaves me commuting in my 2005 Wrangler - takes me twice as long to get anywhere as it's just not worth pushing past 100kmh but it makes a refreshing change to arrive feeling so relaxed. Until this morning....
I was ambling up to the end of the 83 (I think - past Ikea and Festival City etc.), where it meets the 311 just before the flyover to Mirdif and Al Waqaa when some fog-bound loon in a flat back car transporter (you know the ones which look like they'd act as a steel blade if you rear ended them) woke up and swerved across two lanes into my path to try to make the exit for the 311. At the same time a minibus decides he doesn't want to be heading to AD so swerves into the middle lane to make the Sharjah bound turn off - closing my only escape route.
Cue big swerve from me, squeels of 32" rubber and a perfect 360 degree spin across two lanes (I made the mistake of looking down the lanes as I span and had to consider the apparent lack of structure my plastic doors provide me with!) to leave me facing in the right direction on the hard shoulder.
I have no idea how I didn't hit anything, and how nothing hit me. I am grateful to be alive and have now acknowledged the need for a bigger, safer vehicle...maybe even with an airbag or two.
If I had been hooning I would have accepted a need to rein in my behaviour and consider my braking distances but to be pootling along and face what appeared to be certain doom due to the lack of attention and sheer stupidity of other people really has shown me the danger we put ourselves in out there.
I'd close with a comment about staying safe out there but today has shown me that even that is not in your hands sometimes!
So it's up for sale and I've stopped using it to keep the miles down, which leaves me commuting in my 2005 Wrangler - takes me twice as long to get anywhere as it's just not worth pushing past 100kmh but it makes a refreshing change to arrive feeling so relaxed. Until this morning....
I was ambling up to the end of the 83 (I think - past Ikea and Festival City etc.), where it meets the 311 just before the flyover to Mirdif and Al Waqaa when some fog-bound loon in a flat back car transporter (you know the ones which look like they'd act as a steel blade if you rear ended them) woke up and swerved across two lanes into my path to try to make the exit for the 311. At the same time a minibus decides he doesn't want to be heading to AD so swerves into the middle lane to make the Sharjah bound turn off - closing my only escape route.
Cue big swerve from me, squeels of 32" rubber and a perfect 360 degree spin across two lanes (I made the mistake of looking down the lanes as I span and had to consider the apparent lack of structure my plastic doors provide me with!) to leave me facing in the right direction on the hard shoulder.
I have no idea how I didn't hit anything, and how nothing hit me. I am grateful to be alive and have now acknowledged the need for a bigger, safer vehicle...maybe even with an airbag or two.
If I had been hooning I would have accepted a need to rein in my behaviour and consider my braking distances but to be pootling along and face what appeared to be certain doom due to the lack of attention and sheer stupidity of other people really has shown me the danger we put ourselves in out there.
I'd close with a comment about staying safe out there but today has shown me that even that is not in your hands sometimes!
Mate, that sounded a bit of a lively event.
Honestly, you tell people about the driving here, but I don't think I can emphasise just how stupid drivers are here.
We live in Mirdif and I know exactly where you mean.
A few miles away dwn the 44, we witnessed a smiliar thing. Bloke in lane 3 decides he needs fule.....straight accross the lances without even thinking to look. Cue loads of braking, beeping.
The ONLY, ONLY way these people will learn about roas safety, I'm afrias, is the hard way.
The thing is, the Gov don't help themselves with the test lasting a whole 5 minutes. I've seen driving instructors in their company cars on the phone and eating whilst driving, and as for the BIB/.......useless.
Glad your ok though mate...I worry daily about the Mrs.
Honestly, you tell people about the driving here, but I don't think I can emphasise just how stupid drivers are here.
We live in Mirdif and I know exactly where you mean.
A few miles away dwn the 44, we witnessed a smiliar thing. Bloke in lane 3 decides he needs fule.....straight accross the lances without even thinking to look. Cue loads of braking, beeping.
The ONLY, ONLY way these people will learn about roas safety, I'm afrias, is the hard way.
The thing is, the Gov don't help themselves with the test lasting a whole 5 minutes. I've seen driving instructors in their company cars on the phone and eating whilst driving, and as for the BIB/.......useless.
Glad your ok though mate...I worry daily about the Mrs.
Holy sh#t!!
Glad you are ok and no damage to anything other than your pants!
Dubai is bad as we all know, luckily for me when i was there a few years back it was quieter than now but still no walk in the park. Bahrain is scary no thanks to all the Saudis and Q8
who come here and think they own the place but also all the Indians/pakistanis who have no clue what so ever of how to drive, rules of the road etc! Makes me really wonder about how these guys get taught to drive and also how many people here are on the road legally...??
My company hack is a 1.5ltr Nissan sunny..... a 09/10 model, it doesn’t even have ABS (which I thought was illegal?) which I found out to my horror not long after getting the car. I hate it, it’s slow, unsafe and pretty much dangerous for the amount of driving I do here. I have a meeting later today and I’m requesting one of the company Xteras.
BIB here.... well you tell me! Sweet FA!
Hitch glad your ok, and everyone else remember it’s not just yourself it’s all the other idiots you got to watch out for!
Glad you are ok and no damage to anything other than your pants!
Dubai is bad as we all know, luckily for me when i was there a few years back it was quieter than now but still no walk in the park. Bahrain is scary no thanks to all the Saudis and Q8
who come here and think they own the place but also all the Indians/pakistanis who have no clue what so ever of how to drive, rules of the road etc! Makes me really wonder about how these guys get taught to drive and also how many people here are on the road legally...??My company hack is a 1.5ltr Nissan sunny..... a 09/10 model, it doesn’t even have ABS (which I thought was illegal?) which I found out to my horror not long after getting the car. I hate it, it’s slow, unsafe and pretty much dangerous for the amount of driving I do here. I have a meeting later today and I’m requesting one of the company Xteras.
BIB here.... well you tell me! Sweet FA!
Hitch glad your ok, and everyone else remember it’s not just yourself it’s all the other idiots you got to watch out for!
Hitch78 said:
Cheers Chilli - I think I might have been better off had I been concentrating a little harder. You see as I ate my breakfast I caught a glimpse of last week's Time Out Dubai and was mesmerised by this hot looking chick talking about her job at an equestrian centre.....
Ah, you saw it huh??!! She wanted some lingerie snaps put in, but they wouldn't have it.This morning. Not a biggie, nothing happened......a guy in the inside lane, just moved out. He wasn't overtaking anything, he wasn't going too fast (neither was I), but I had to brake....he didn't look AT ALL.
It's the thought process that gets me. What EXACTLY was he thinking??!! It simpy never occurred to this man (a local) that there may be a car in the spot he wanted to get into, for whatever reason....
I'm rambling now, and getting stressed....Off for a smoke.
I often think to myself what goes through peoples minds when the do that random lane changing thing
1) Proceeding without any problems at a pace in line with traffic? ----Check
2) Lane in front clear as far as the eye can see? ----Check
3) Randomly change lanes for no reason whatsoever and without looking to see if anybody is in the target lane and without using indicators? ----Check
Aaaaargghhhh fking knobheads! What do they think they are achieving?
'er indoors suggested the other day that along with the National ID card they should hand our common sense injections. Oh for that to be a reality!
1) Proceeding without any problems at a pace in line with traffic? ----Check
2) Lane in front clear as far as the eye can see? ----Check
3) Randomly change lanes for no reason whatsoever and without looking to see if anybody is in the target lane and without using indicators? ----Check
Aaaaargghhhh f
king knobheads! What do they think they are achieving? 'er indoors suggested the other day that along with the National ID card they should hand our common sense injections. Oh for that to be a reality!
- Dashes off to check Time Out for hot horse riding chick*
All I can say is "thankfully you are here to tell the tale" and "welcome to driving in Dubai".
There is feck all you can do in instances like these except trust your instincts and pray. These feckwhits who drive here really want to be put against a wall and shot, the fecking lot of them.
I know, that the longer I stay in Dubai, the more my chances are of dieing on the road between DXB & AUH! Case in point: this AM driving to work - some randon KNOB comes hurtling through dense fog (we, in the lH lane all doing 120ish) and proceeds to flash his headlights at all and sundry and starts weaving back and forth trying to get past, so eventually fed up, he screams past on the hard shoulder and continues to do so passing 6 cars. Now as I was the first car for him to pass, I saw him, but the ones in front got one hell of a shock and swerved right. Thakfully, there was sufficient space between cars to allow them to do this, otherwise there would have been a massive pile up.
I just shook my head in amazement.
There is feck all you can do in instances like these except trust your instincts and pray. These feckwhits who drive here really want to be put against a wall and shot, the fecking lot of them.
I know, that the longer I stay in Dubai, the more my chances are of dieing on the road between DXB & AUH! Case in point: this AM driving to work - some randon KNOB comes hurtling through dense fog (we, in the lH lane all doing 120ish) and proceeds to flash his headlights at all and sundry and starts weaving back and forth trying to get past, so eventually fed up, he screams past on the hard shoulder and continues to do so passing 6 cars. Now as I was the first car for him to pass, I saw him, but the ones in front got one hell of a shock and swerved right. Thakfully, there was sufficient space between cars to allow them to do this, otherwise there would have been a massive pile up.
I just shook my head in amazement.
People don’t know how to drive in the GCC fact, but a least when we are sat in traffic (me, 45-50min each way daily no way around) and not moving we are kind of safe.... apart from the absolute c u next Tuesday’s that drive, make that speed down the hard shoulders to get to the front of the traffic!!!!I move my car over so they can’t get pass, they really really hate that!
Mind you I vote we all buy one of these for our daily commute!
Glad you're safe mate.
I love it when people back home moan about the drivers. Every journey here is fraught with danger and I hate to say it but I am coming to the conclusion that certain races/cultures are simply less intelligent than others. There are certain things I've seen on the road that cannot have been done by anyone with an IQ over 5. I can't see how they weighed things up and came to the conclusion that what they just did was fine, reasonable and safe.
The other factors are arrogance and selfishness which some people seem to exhibit in staggering amounts here - not just in driving but most instances.
I've all for the gene pool being cleansed but it often affects the innocent.
I keep threatening to buy an old Landy Defender and when I get cut up, I simply won't slow down and see if they like having their door sliced open.
I love it when people back home moan about the drivers. Every journey here is fraught with danger and I hate to say it but I am coming to the conclusion that certain races/cultures are simply less intelligent than others. There are certain things I've seen on the road that cannot have been done by anyone with an IQ over 5. I can't see how they weighed things up and came to the conclusion that what they just did was fine, reasonable and safe.
The other factors are arrogance and selfishness which some people seem to exhibit in staggering amounts here - not just in driving but most instances.
I've all for the gene pool being cleansed but it often affects the innocent.
I keep threatening to buy an old Landy Defender and when I get cut up, I simply won't slow down and see if they like having their door sliced open.
Edited by Asterix on Tuesday 9th March 12:18
You cant drive here like we do back home.... propperly obaying the rules of the road etc as you wont get anywhere! You have to adapt to the stupid way of the road to survive. Gave up on the bib here ages ago, i used to obay speed limits indicate not talk on my phone etc, only to get overtaken by some local at warp speed who has just gone past both of us!
i asked one of my guys here, a Bahrani what do the fuzz actually do? He said nothing, they will only stop Bahrainis and thats at the end of the month to up their numbers before pay day. figures.
If anyones missing off this post in the morning im going to worry!! Maybe start a register!
Right, nearly time for me to get in my Nissan death box and fight my way home... wish me luck!!
i asked one of my guys here, a Bahrani what do the fuzz actually do? He said nothing, they will only stop Bahrainis and thats at the end of the month to up their numbers before pay day. figures.
If anyones missing off this post in the morning im going to worry!! Maybe start a register!
Right, nearly time for me to get in my Nissan death box and fight my way home... wish me luck!!
I forgot to add to my other post - my missus is doing her driving lessons at the moment and it is farcical! I took her out on the quiet roads around our villa for ten minutes the day before her test. She hadn't been taught how to park, do a 3-point turn, emergency stop and loads of other stuff. All she'd been taught was to drive forward, reverse in a straight line, and do a u-turn at the traffic lights. She was actively taught to cross her hands over when turning, to indicate on a normal bend in the road. She said her first instructor was 8 months pregnant, would often be on her phone and once nodded off at a set of traffic lights. She failed her first test for no specific reason yet one of the girls, yes they go out on the test with two other people in the car, passed without putting her seat belt on and going up a curb.
She failed the second time simply because she hadn't been taught something. She has to pay for another 8 lessons and apply for the test again - it's a scam basically.
Wasn't there a guy that came over from the UK, was one of the most qualified instructors in the UK, and was employed by one of the papers to do an expose? I think he got failed 3 times for undisclosed reasons before he explained who he was and what he was doing.
She failed the second time simply because she hadn't been taught something. She has to pay for another 8 lessons and apply for the test again - it's a scam basically.
Wasn't there a guy that came over from the UK, was one of the most qualified instructors in the UK, and was employed by one of the papers to do an expose? I think he got failed 3 times for undisclosed reasons before he explained who he was and what he was doing.
I am signing in, but in hindsight, I maybe should not be:
DIP roundabout (Emirates Road) coming from Dubai By-Pass road: You mat have heard about the accident via the radio on the road this AM - fog was thick, very thick. Yes, I saw the accident probs not more than 5 mins after it started - circa 6 cars, all very crunched up. So I slowed down and stopped, guy behind me saw it and stopped as well, however, the guy behind him did not see jack st and plowed into the back of him. I just saw the car behind me rear end "explode" (not fire, just debris) from the impact of the car.
I got on my horn and weaved in and out of the crunched vehicles and got the fook outa dodge ASAP.
I have sworn in the past that if I peek out of the windows in the morning and see thick fog, I would stay at home until it lifts, but never done it, well, I think I shall start.
DIP roundabout (Emirates Road) coming from Dubai By-Pass road: You mat have heard about the accident via the radio on the road this AM - fog was thick, very thick. Yes, I saw the accident probs not more than 5 mins after it started - circa 6 cars, all very crunched up. So I slowed down and stopped, guy behind me saw it and stopped as well, however, the guy behind him did not see jack s
t and plowed into the back of him. I just saw the car behind me rear end "explode" (not fire, just debris) from the impact of the car.I got on my horn and weaved in and out of the crunched vehicles and got the fook outa dodge ASAP.
I have sworn in the past that if I peek out of the windows in the morning and see thick fog, I would stay at home until it lifts, but never done it, well, I think I shall start.
Glad to hear you guys are all okay.
I have to say that I've heard nothing but horror stories about the standard of driving in the UAE. My ex-girlfriend was badly shaken-up in a smash on SZR a couple of years ago and I've witnessed some appalling driving on my recent visits.
I suppose there isn't much you can do other than try to keep your wits about you?
I have to say that I've heard nothing but horror stories about the standard of driving in the UAE. My ex-girlfriend was badly shaken-up in a smash on SZR a couple of years ago and I've witnessed some appalling driving on my recent visits.
I suppose there isn't much you can do other than try to keep your wits about you?
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