Daily Dubai Driving Disasters

DDDD #1
This is on the main highway, Sheikh Zayed, not too far from Mall of the Emirates.
I didn't take this picture, so I'm not sure how the car ended up underneath the SUV.




DDDD #2

On my way to the grocery store in our neighborhood I see this....





I curse myself because it's the one time I didn't have the camera on me. Obviously you can tell I turned right around and went back and got it! However, in typical Krissy fashion, I failed to turn it on before I left and when I arrived back at the scene, my camera flashed "change batteries" and went black. Again, I turned around and went back, grabbed the baby out of his seat, replaced the batteries, and learning from my mistake, turned the camera on. Now I'm juggling the baby and camera and locking the door and trying to yank the strap from his mouth since he thinks the camera is his new toy. Back in the seat and back around the corner. As if that's not enough, I'm also battling sunset which is insanely early here! No daylight savings. I hit the speedbumps at 80km and only hear a slight scrape. I get back and quickly run/leap through the weird looking aloe vera/cactus stuff so I can get the shot before the sun sets.

Passing is rampant here...even I'm an occasional passer, especially when people take the bumps extremely slow. I think this guy should probably rethink his passing strategy because he must think the oncoming traffic is just a minor inconvenience. Either that or he had a crazy vendetta against the landscaping.



DDDD #3
There's one way to get out of our neighborhood and it involves a gargantuan roundabout. When we first moved here, there were flashing yellow lights at the entrance to the roundabout, but not long after they were changed to typical green, yellow, red stoplights. We thought this was a good idea because trying to get into some roundabouts with the flashing yellow can be a bit dicey. This was logic speaking and logic and Dubai do not coexist. The light at the Ranches roundabout takes a full 5 minutes to go through a cycle. It's unfortunate that I've had a plethora of opportunities to time this.

There is ONE lane of paved road leading to the main exit for our development. However, most people make another lane on the semi-improved shoulder. Fine. It's only a bit bumpy and it turns into two lanes when you get closer to the roundabout so people just extend the 2nd lane back from where it really begins. No big deal. Next to the improvised 2nd lane is where construction (really, construction in Dubai?) is taking place to turn the roundabout into an interchange so there are barricades, sand piles, and flags everywhere. But, this doesn't stop the crazy people. A barricade is just a warning that you should put the car in 4 wheel drive. People will drive around the folks in the improvised 2nd lane and cruise right on up to where the 2 lanes are both paved. We don't let them in :)

But, a while back, the traffic was so heavy to get out (we'd sat through 2 cycles and were in our 3rd and it was looking doubtful that we'd make it through) that we started seeing cars driving past where the 2nd lane was and continuing through the sand trying to get to the very front of the line. What the sorry, impatient bastards didn't realize was that the impassable barricade continued along the edge of the 2nd lane and basically encompasses the roundabout (like a guardrail). So in the pictures below all these cars drove all the way down to the front and had to turn around! This is them driving back...hee hee. You can see the barricade in the pictures.





Since there are so many issues with driving, the UAE Ministry of the Interior has come up with a list of fines and black points for certain offenses. If you receive 12 black points within a year, your license is revoked. Here are a few samples...


Driving a vehicle without number plates 24 black points
Causing death of others 12 black points
Falling or leaking load 12 black points
Running away from a traffic policeman 12 black points
Using horn in a disturbing way 2 black points


They've got their priorities straight.