You knew this was going to happen… I may have touched on a couple of sensitive points when I ranted about driving in Bahrain… The truth is, there’s so many more things to complain about regarding driving in Bahrain…
First let me bring your attention to the worst parents on the face of this planet… Let me explain the heart attack I almost had and then you can pass judgment (but bear in mind if you have an opinion other than mine, then you need to piss off and die)… Driving down Government Avenue heading towards the diplomatic area, I get towards a rotary and the coast looked clear… All of a sudden a car comes flying out of nowhere with a family stuffed to the brim (mind you none of them are wearing seatbelts): dad driving, kids in the back, and mom’s in the front seat playing a game by throwing her infant in the air and catching him the whole time the GODDAMN WINDOW’S OPEN!!! I mean all it took was a slip of the hand and there goes the kid out the window onto the road and there’s his head crushed by the big truck… It took me a couple of seconds to recover from the shock of having to slam on my brakes and the sight of a mother playing catch with her baby in the front seat of a car with the window open… I had to drive over and do my nonsensical yelling at them about safety, and they just shrugged me off as another escapee from the psychiatric hospital…
Parents not properly securing their children in their cars is a huge issue here in Bahrain… I’m hating the fact that I’m becoming so desensitized to it (you have to, there’s no other choice because no one will listen to you), that I just shrug it off and hope they don’t get killed in an accident… you see them, all over the roads, kids standing in the front passenger seat, no seatbelts, kids jumping around the car, parents driving with their kids in their laps… It’s just ridiculous… I mean do you not care about the safety of your child? Driving in Bahrain is horrible with traffic, speeding, and accidents, why are you taking that additional risk with your child’s safety? Maybe I’m just too much of a paranoid person, but I don’t think your child’s safety is something you should be playing around with… Some parents will claim that the kid won’t sit still and always moves around, well that’s probably because you never taught them that the car was a vehicle not a play pen, and maybe you should wean them off the sugar water and candy while you’re at it…
This has to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in Bahrain: you have these asshole parents with their stupid “Baby on Board” signs to warn other drivers. But once you drive up close, you’ll find the baby on board bouncing all over the place… What’s the point of that? Why would even have a sign for a baby on board and not give a damn about securing them in a safe place? Typical… I feel like I need to sit there and cheer on parents that have properly secured their children in the car because they’re few and far between…
My god, some people and the way they drive here… whenever you get behind the wheel here, you just have to immediately assume that everyone’s a bad driver, including yourself.
Ok the espresso’s kickin’ in, I’m feeling a lot better, it’s just one of those days where you encounter all this stupidity on the road that you need to smoke a cigarette and drink some strong coffee to get over the jitters of careless parents…
I'd love to know how do you feel about all this...
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7 comments:
Okay, I have to respond to this. As a Californian, seatbelts are the norm. It is only natural that the second you get into your car, you strap on your seatbelt. If you are in a car, and there is a person who does not put on their seatbelt, everyone is in shock and yells at that person to put it on. Here, we have laws regarding this issue. One can get ticketed and fined for not wearing a seatbelt. Even if the passenger in your car is not wearing one, the driver or owner of the car gets fined. So drivers always make sure their passengers are wearing their seatbelts. Like I said, it is just natural.
I am wondering what the laws are in Bahrain regarding this? Are there laws but the problem is they are not enforced well enough?
As well, children's safety carseats are a big issue. I believe children in California have to be in a carseat until they are more than about 40 to 60 pounds. Not too sure about the number. But you can bet that if a mother was playing with her child that way in a moving vehicle, she would probably be sent to jail for child endangerment.
Okay, I have to respond to this. As a Californian, seatbelts are the norm. It is only natural that the second you get into your car, you strap on your seatbelt. If you are in a car, and there is a person who does not put on their seatbelt, everyone is in shock and yells at that person to put it on. Here, we have laws regarding this issue. One can get ticketed and fined for not wearing a seatbelt. Even if the passenger in your car is not wearing one, the driver or owner of the car gets fined. So drivers always make sure their passengers are wearing their seatbelts. Like I said, it is just natural.
I am wondering what the laws are in Bahrain regarding this? Are there laws but the problem is they are not enforced well enough?
Linda
As well, children's safety carseats are a big issue. I believe children in California have to be in a carseat until they are more than about 40 to 60 pounds. Not too sure about the number. But you can bet that if a mother was playing with her child that way in a moving vehicle, she would probably be sent to jail for child endangerment.
Seatbelts are just common sense... buckling up is the law here, but it's not enforced enough.. you can be sure that if you're stopped by a police officer and you're not wearing a seatbelt, you'll be fined, but no one here is going to yell at you for not buckling up...
everyone's got this lackadaisical attitude towards safety on the road... the police are doing their job, but it's still not enough... people just don't care...
And I'm not blaming education, because it's not hard for someone to understand that safety on the road is essential... It's this vanity that we Bahraini's carry.. we've got nothing, yet we all think we're the mutt's nuts... Me? wear a seatbelt? why? I'm not going to get into an accident.. I'm a great driver...
Are you on that stew again? Whatswrongwithyourheadman? Don't you know that God invented children MUCHBEFORETHEFUCKINGCRASHBAG?
Thusly, they MUST be used as such. I'm sure some asshat has a fatwa against using the seatbelt because it "interferes with the will of Allah" or some such logical explanation.
YOU my friend is a dimwit. You should have known this already, intelligent as you are. You should also know that DRIVING ON PAVEMENTS is so in vogue that not only beat-up, clapped-out cars do it, but Cadilac STSs as well as Mercedes etc.
C'mon, get another mug of espresso in you and get your head fixed before you spout some shit like this.
I am soooo dissapointed!
dimwit I am... sometimes I need to vent out my frustration at people's obsession with wanting to recreate impossible james bondish driving stunts... silly silly me...
as for the latest sidewalk traffic jumping technique - I'm not really impressed anymore, would love to see someone squeeze through traffic on two wheels... that would be totally worth it... I mean if you're going to be a jerk, you might as well do it in style recreating a Dukes of Hazardesque stunt...
The moment of ranting has passed, I'm back to being my apathetic self again...
I remembered this post while driving to work this morning. It was one of those mornings that the whole damned world is against you.
1. Asshole slow driver in the fast lane and refuses to budge. Went around the stupid jerk and gave him the finger.
2. Girl in a beat-up Mitsubishi wanted to take an oppportunity that a BUS cut me off at a roundabout and she thought that she might as well. Couldn't catch the bitch because she sped up to escape my wrath and I was in a stupid beat-up old Jeep. Time to dump the Jeep.
3. Beat-up Cressida (why the fuck did God invent those?) refuses to give way, his transmission must have been at its last leg, going 50 clicks on the fast lane on the Pearl roundabout flyover. Went around the stupid jerk but couldn't be bothered to give him the finger. Gave up by then.
4. Turning in at the Sheraton complex to get to the office, asshole in beat-up BMW 3 series going at 40 while talking on the mobile phone. I wanted to ram that asshat out of the way. Could't, too many police watching in that area.
Got to the office and decided, fuck it, I'll take TWO parking spaces this morning. To hell with the world.
I'm ok now. really. I am. I think.
I feel your pain..
the best remedy to all this is very loud music on your drive to work... get all that pent up anger and road rage out... I find yelling while you drive also helps... whatever floats your boat, but for me the louder the better... I find it very theraputic...
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