Stupid Drivers?
Why cant people in qatar, especially, qataris and karwa taxis ever:
1.give way
2.maintain lane discipline
3.use a roundabout the way its designed to used
its almost like people's manhoods are insulted if they give way or drive properly.
IMPORTANT: YOUR PENIS WONT SHRINK IF YOU USE YOUR INDICATOR.
WHat's wrong with driving in Paris?
My husband is from Le Mans. Brilliant drivers :DDD
is brilliant compared to here. I saw three accidents on my way home last night. Pretty normal count for the 4 kilometer drive form my office to my home. I drive a huge American car because I want to put as much hood and trunk between me and the other lunatics on the road. Come on over Peep and enjoy the ride.
This is Qatar, not India..... there is no train system..... and general public don't travel in anything but cabs and taxis.... most of the labourers travel in buses though....
Oh and one more thing..... if you do come here, I would suggest that you get ready to live as a celebrity, as women not in abaya, stop traffic.... literally.....
I have caused an accident or two since I have been here... especially since the areas I hang out in are predominently Indian as our company has an apartment block in Mansoura.... But the Arabs are not adverse to following you home if you are a women on your own.... take a read at some of the posts on the site.... They are no exaggeration....
X
In Summation i guess, the Qataris wont start to drive properly until they get rid o their arrogance. The taxi drivers need to learn to drive sensibly. Crossing lanes for punters is dangerous.
I have this incredible urge to visit just to see the driving skills if nothing else (or lack of them as it seems), I thought Paris was bad, I was mesmerised stood up on the Eiffel Tower watching the Parisian motorist trying to navigate a junction, that was a free for all, but this sounds like a must. *Note to myself…. “Must sort out my life insurance before going”.
Would I have to share public transport with livestock too? I did read that I need to be well equipped with safety pins for the people with Frotteurism (the act of sexually rubbing in crowded train/places), so I can jab them in the googlies with them if they try, there again, knowing my luck they would probably be into physical masochism and go all wide eyed and be worse.
It is understandable that taxi drivers don't know where to drive or how to drive for that matter. You see the state set up this huge transportation system to accomadate the Asian games which consisted of a lot of buses and taxis however the rapidly expanding city of Doha gobbles up workers faster than they can process the papers, a shortage existed so a lot of people from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan were brought in to be the drivers of this new armanda of transportation. They did not get much breakin time. Now we have a trainee taxi force who for most purposes are scared Sh__less of driving in the insane traffic of Doha. If you want to see crazy stuff watch the LC drivers bounce along the side of the road on their own made up lane with their kids bouncing up and down and half out the windows at 80 to 100kph. Seat belts, signal lights and mirrors are not essential equipment for drivers out here.
Oh, excellent, it is so funny from this side of the world to hear all the issues, I suppose it gets frustrating at times there, and time must be added to a journey for “driver navigational error” ? I was talking to a friend I have here that lived there but is Palestinian, and I curl up laughing at the things he says, I have to constantly remind him of our laws, one day he tried to cram all his family in the car, I had to stop him and say about our restriction and seatbelt laws, he looked at me all puppy eyed and lost and said, "but we can have them all in and hanging of the bumpers". I don’t know whether he says it to make me laugh or if it is true half the times. But I do laugh.
Yep, there was this famous story when during West Asian Games in June, a bus driver who arrived in the country only a week ago, instead of bringing one of the football teams to the stadium took an opposite direction, while the other team was waiting on the field. There was a no-show issue, big scandal and screwed up schedule.
No Peep, it has nothing to do with not being able to drive.... I am allowed to drive, its to find the time to go and do the licence....
Secondly, most of the drivers here are either Indian or Philippino, so it has nothing to do with them not taking instruction from a women, it is purely that they have arrived here in the country a few days before, have very bad knowledge of English so they don't understand when you tell them left or right or keep straigh.....
X
Goodness, so you are not even able to co drive? Knowing little about the culture but that which I read, is that due to you being female that he would not take direction from you? I don’t mean as in the joke we have here about our wonderful female navigational skills.
*gives coy legs shuffle and looks down with knowledge of own Scenic route navigation skills.
Terramax's quote
If you drive the way you spell, you are the danger number one on the streets, lzxcoco
*sniggers to her self.....Urmmmm *cough *mutters under breath: Maybe he is typing with one hand and driving on the roads of Qatar at the same time
Left City Center last Wednesday evening after Christmas Shopping, got into a cab and told the taxi driver, my area of designation...... He told me he had only been here 3 days and proceeded to look at a map, so I said to him I will tell him the route..... Which he didn't listen to as we dronve along....
I asked him if he knew Ramada Hotel(everyone knows Ramada), he said yes, and then proceeded to get lost in National(a dodgy area, no houses)... not an area I enter often, but at least once I saw the Habib Exchange, I knew exactly where I was and managed to get out again....
It's beyond a joke now..... what happens to people who don't know their way around and get into one of these taxis?
X
Looking at a few videos that have been submitted on various hosting sites, I would say it is very much each to their own, close your eyes and go for it! if you cannot beat them join them, it looks like any sort of courtesy would have you stuck in the middle of the traffic and creating even more mayhem. It is more on a governmental level to take stance on the bylaws. Individuals out there trying to make a difference would be mere fishes in an ocean.
If you drive the way you spell, you are the danger number one on the streets, lzxcoco
ya.......it all start from ourselves....
they need time to learn the way u drive / we drive....
or if u cannot take it, join them....
i m sure u can do it...
may b u learn it the hard way....at a high price...
If you wanna make this world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that change! - Michael Jackson, Man in the Mirror
Change starts from within. Talking, discussing about this one problem about driving and manners and stuff is one thing, but doing something about it is another.
Do the right thing so that the "NQR" can slowly become "TMLI" or "that's more like it". Even if "others" are not driving well, we sure can influence our families, friends, workmates, boss, enemies and others to drive the way we all should.
Peep...it maybe unbelievable but its true. My husband and I have a saying, "NQR"...it means Not Quite Right. It's used everyday. Somehow, we still love this country and don't want to leave :)
denzelsfan,
it is quite an unbelievable thought to imagine a taxi driver does not know or even have a basic knowledge of the surrounding areas, are you sure the ignorance is not chosen so they can take you around the houses to get there and therefore increasing the cost of the fare?
I plead some amount of ignorance as I have never been to Qatar, I fell upon this site a few hours ago in search of Arabs and their conduct and attitudes to western women: then became absorbed into the site and reading other threads, I have giggled at a few posts on numinous matters.
The thread subject reminds me of a link I recently came across on my tube, it may have already been posted here (I do not know as I have not read all the threads), but it made me laugh at the screaching tyres and chaos.. it is: http://www.youtube.com/p.swf?video_id=loKqF3jLrPs&eurl=http%3A//qatarvisitor.blogspot.com/2006/10/traffic-chaos-video.html&iurl=http%3A//sjc-static1.sjc.youtube.com/vi/loKqF3jLrPs/2.jpg&t=OEgsToPDskKLx0l1xvVsVQ5YXnHze1d0
sorry for the long link, i do not know what code you use for tags yet
over the past couple of years, driving thru qatari streets has become a nightmare for me and a real tragedy for some others. its getting worse everyday and it will never improve until and unless the traffic police are adequately trained and the no. of new cars entering the streets is controlled.
speaking of karwa taxis, why do most of the drivers not even know the locations of some popular or imporatnt places in qatar like the gulf cinema or Hamad hospital! the drivers i've spoken to have only just arrived in doha and they get enrolled into this job of driving people to places they haven't even heard of! it gives a new meaning to the word "TAXI". i mean why can't they train these drivers to learn the routes to certain places of importance?
LIVE LIFE! YOU ONLY GOT ONE SHOT AT IT!
breath in ... breath out ... it will take another century for them to learn it.