There wasn't much traffic on my 7.30 drive this morning and, apart from a black Land Rover Sport (what else!) that couldn't stay within the lane markers, the road etiquette was pretty good.
No hazard lights flashing, most vehicles with dimmed headlights on, I didn't see dangerous speeding and, remarkably, I didn't see any drivers on their mobile phone.
On another trip at 10.30am, with the fog just about gone, it was different. I saw several drivers on mobiles, one tailgater in my boot, speeding on Al Wasl Road and SZR.
12 comments:
There wasn't much traffic on my 7.30 drive this morning
Seabee - presumably you were not actually driving your car this morning at the time your photos were taken or rather a passenger in your car took the shots? The photos certainly do not look like they were taken when your car was in a stationary position?
If you were driving at the time you took the shots, it kind of smacks of hypocrisy for you to criticise other people using their mobile phones while driving, and makes sound rather hollow all of your other critiques of bad driving in Dubai!
That's not only fog, btw. It's fog mixed with pollution. Fogollution.
Anon@6.22 yes of course I was driving and no of course I didn't take the photographs. Mrs Seabee takes the photographs when I'm driving.
Your grovelling apologies are accepted without you needing to post another comment to offer them.
El Shahlab, spot on, there was dirt all over my windscreen, sand and dust stuck there by the dampness. I love your word 'fogollution' to describe it - I may borrow it for future posts!
Seabee, lol I don't mind. Just remember to give me credit.
There's already a word for a combination of fog and pollution. It was invented about 70 years ago and combines the words 'fog' and 'smoke' (the specific kind of pollution that binds with fog).
You might know it better as 'smog'.
The cynic in me would say this a great example of yet again someone in the UAE inventing something, doing a half-assed job of it, thinking they've done it first, and then finding out that someone else did a much better job of it a long time ago and yet still demand credit for it. Dubai Metro, anyone?
Doug you're right of course, smog was a word coined in the UK before they introduced smoke control laws. But as you say, it's a smoke/fog combo so doesn't apply to our version of dust and fog. I'll stay with El Shahlab's word for what we get here.
Doug, you're taking what I said way too seriously. It was a joke. But apparently you were looking for an execuse to bash Dubai.
Can you explain, with evidence, the example you gave of Dubai Metro and how is it relevant to your statement:
'someone in the UAE inventing something, doing a half-assed job of it, thinking they've done it first, and then finding out that someone else did a much better job of it a long time ago and yet still demand credit for it'
So you think Dubai Gov think they invented the Metro system? If yes, how do you know that? Did someone from the government make an announcement that they invented the metro system in the world, and we missed it somehow?
What is 'half-assed' about Dubai Metro? If its anything, it proved to be a big success. Ask daily commuters.
Also enlighten u; when did Dubai Gov 'demand credit' for the Metro project?
Btw, there is another kind of smog. The smog of prejudice and envy in some people's brains that blinds them and distorts their perspectives. I'll call it Cognismog. Yes, another word invention! It combines Cognition & Smog.
Finally, Doug, the word Smog was invented more than 90 years ago, by Dr. Henry Antoine Des Voeux in a paper he wrote titled 'Fog & Smoke'.
Also enlighten u= enlighten us
Simple. Everyone in the Dubai authorities seems to think that the Dubai Metro is the most awesome idea ever and much has been made of its moderness and the fact it's automated. Yet driverless metros are pretty common around the world and metro systems as a whole have been in cities that were smaller than Dubai far longer ago.
And in terms of 'commuters'...well, the Dubai Metro is a great little tourist light rail tour of SZR but if you're looking to get from the airport at night or from where you live to where you work....sorry, I'm not convinced that it really works very well if you live in Jumeira and work in say, Barsha or Garhoud. And in terms of 'half-assed', declaring the whole of the Red Line will be open on 09/09/09, then opening only about half of it and watching the delivery dates for the rest of the Red and the whole Green Line slip and disappear because RTA can't afford to pay Mitsubishi even for the work already done...yeah, that'd be what you call 'half-assed'. But I expect of course, companies complaining that Dubai simply doesn't pay its bills is also 'Dubai bashing' as well. One day you might find that you can't just write off all criticism without consequences.
As for the 'cognismog', weren't you on here thinking that resolving to get less than 10,000Dhs worth of speeding fines was some noble, laudable aim? Aren't you also suffering from some cognismog?
'Simple. Everyone in the Dubai authorities seems to think that the Dubai Metro is the most awesome idea ever and much has been made of its moderness ....'
And what's wrong with that? It is an awesome idea, and it is a modern system. The small cities you're talking about must be really old cities, but the UAE is a very young country. And to have a modern Metro system in this tiny desert country, in which the only means of communication were camels and horses, it is awesome! But thanks for comparing us with developed nations.
Moreover, TRA didn't promise you that the Metro system will solve all your problems. Maybe you'd like TRA to create a special metro line from your office directly to your bedroom? And maybe tuck you in bed and sings you a lullaby before it leaves?
'weren't you on here thinking that resolving to get less than 10,000Dhs worth of speeding fines was some noble'
Well at least I realized that I have a problem and trying to be a better citizen. The question is, are you?
Maybe you'd like RTA to create a special metro line from your office directly to your bedroom?
No, but perhaps they could have looked at what had been done in other countries and worked (stops on most street corners, extensive integration with a well-run bus system, operating hours that make sense) and either adopted those or improved on them.
It is an awesome idea, and it is a modern system.
It's not though. A metro system is a basic requirement for any major city, and the actual operational parameters are by no means modern. It's essentially a rail system, something that many places around the world which are arguably far less developed than Dubai somehow managed to do, in some cases many years ago.
Well at least I realized that I have a problem and trying to be a better citizen. The question is, are you?
Better is a bit relative. If your fines were 14,000dhs last year, then I suppose 10,000 for this year is 'better' but it still makes you an individual with a callous disregard for the laws of the land and the lives of your fellow residents. If you're actually looking at breaking free of your own cognismog, you'd realise that there is absolutely no reason on earth for you to ever get a speeding ticket - and that should be your goal.
Simply put, if you went to a restaurant, ate the food and got food poisoning 4 times that year from it, then went back next year and only got it once, would that make the restaurant 'better' or acceptable?
No, it wouldn't.
Give it a rest Doug. Nobody and nothing is perfect. However trying to be a better person and place is a positive deed. UAE has its share of the good and the bad, just like where you came from. So please, try and extend some understanding & patience.
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