Mahmoud Ahmad

RECENTLY there was an incident involving a friend of mine. My friend was in her car, being driven by her driver, on a busy major road in Jeddah. As is the case during peak hours, the traffic was heavy and her car was stuck in the middle prior to a U-turn section in the street with the cars ahead all trying to squeeze through at the earliest. The driver behind her began honking repeatedly signaling that her driver move her car. Even if he could not see he should have realized that the cars were jammed and her car could move only when the car ahead of her and the traffic moved forward.



When the jam eventually resorted itself — which it usually does after a cacophony of horn blasts and give and take a few shouting here and there — and the traffic was freer, he came next to her car and started to shout and curse. Angry at his reaction, she signaled to him to be quiet and moved on. The driver then followed her and forced her driver to the side of the road. The road-raged driver then came to her window, cursed at her again and spat on the window before leaving the scene angry. This happened in the middle of the road in broad daylight with other people watching.



Another incident involving a family with a driver in Madinah’s second ring road, which is the busiest street in the city, too raises eyebrows. The driver mistakenly cut in front of another driver as he tried to pass a slow driver. The driver of the fast car that was on the third lane and at a safe distant from the car that cut in front of him, did not like the action. He went past the family’s car, forced the car to the side, despite seeing that five women were inside the car, stopped ahead of it and got down in a flash. He forced the driver’s door open and got into an altercation with the driver that led to a fistfight on the side road of the busy street. The angry driver too did not listen to the women begging him to get back into the car and leave. In the end the drivers, both Saudis, were injured for a silly reason.



According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, "aggressive driving — or what some people call "road rage" — is defined as "An incident in which an angry or impatient motorist or passenger intentionally injures or kills another motorist, passenger, or pedestrian, or attempts to injure or kill another motorist, passenger, or pedestrian, in response to a traffic dispute, altercation, or grievance." The definition also includes incidents where "an angry or vengeful motorist drives his or her vehicle into a building or other structure or property."



The concept of road rage is very common in the West. The vast majority of people here, however, do not know this concept, yet we are deeply infected by it and practicing it daily in our lives. Rarely does a person drive in Jeddah streets and does not see a fight; someone cursing at another person or driver; people cutting off each other on the road in retaliation; or zig-zagging on the road prior to moving from the left to the right to merge into the slip road. Most drivers on the road are ticking bombs waiting to explode. Some drivers are waiting for others to make a mistake so they can unleash their anger on them and release their frustration.



Rarely do you see patience in people or simple road courtesies that could go a long way in curbing this phenomenon. They do not excuse the infraction or are ever in a forgiving mode. We seem to have developed the habit of living out the old Darwinian adage of “survival of the fittest.” Combine this with the acceptance that “forgiveness is a sign of weakness” then there’s a lethal combination.



I was involved in an incident like this early this year when I was driving down Palestine Road and I was under the speed limit on the far left. A fast driver found himself momentarily behind me and blocked by the moving traffic. He began honking furiously and flashing his lights before shouting for me to move. I ignored him simply because there are no room for me on the right side. I signaled to him, jokingly, to fly if he could. After a short distant he managed to come next to my car and throw a bottle of water at me before taking off. I guess my mistake was to ask him to fly with his car.



Nowadays many drivers have begun resorting to carrying weapons in their car. If they are not carrying guns, they pack themselves with knives, iron rod or wooden sticks that they will use only to fight on the road. Almost everyone is equipped with a weapon that’s kept under the seat ready to be used in the first case of road rage. In case of Saudi drivers, we are equipped already with the Eqal on the head that is used the moment we are in a fight.



A recent clip that circulated on social media showed a road rage fight between groups of people in two cars in Riyadh. Whatever the problem, the clip only showed a man almost dead in a pool of blood and the others’ faces too red with blood. One of the drivers was seen carrying the victim to a nearby hospital. People on the scene, meanwhile, were saying that the man was dead. However, it was reported that police arrested all involved in the fight and the wooden sticks that were used as weapons in this fight was taken as evidence. Whatever the result, people almost killed each other due to a road rage problem.



We should increase awareness of the road rage problem and educate people to follow these steps to avoid road rage: Keep a cool head, avoid eye contact, never make obscene gestures, do not use your vehicle to intimidate others, get out of the left lane for other fast moving vehicles, if you witness something you think is road rage, call the police, avoid becoming frustrated or stressed out—if you do, remove yourself from the situation, never get behind the wheel if you are tired or irritable and avoid confrontation. The authorities could also highlight the various penalties for such actions. However, more efforts are needed to curb this growing phenomenon.

 

 

— The writer can be contacted at mahmad@saudigazette.com.sa. Twitter: @anajeddawi_eng