Ramadan is usually a time for introspection, of calmness and mindful behaviour. Right?
That is until you hit the road at 2pm when the whole of Bahrain seems to be heading home. BOOM! Then the roads are a free-for-all and most drivers, irrespective of gender, assume the mantle of a Lewis Hamilton, sans the skills.
Traffic signals are jumped with impunity and when the green light blinks to indicate an upcoming red, drivers seem to take it personally and accelerate to beat the blink. When I slowed down for an amber light recently, I even had the driver in the car next to me admonish me that I should have accelerated to cross over and not slow down the traffic! As for yellow lines – nobody seems to have heard of waiting for a clear entry on the other side before crossing the junction.
It makes little sense really. After all, wherever you are going in Bahrain and even if you navigate the worst traffic jam, you can reach home in under an hour. And, that still leaves you with enough time to prepare a quick meal to break the fast – usually around 5.45pm – and then perhaps a more celebratory meal can be considered. In addition, most of us who work in offices or run businesses of our own, have house help who makes it easier to prepare for Iftar and Suhoor or, alternatively, buy a tasty and nutritious Iftar kit.
And, if you think the 2pm rush is the worst, wait till you are caught in the 10pm melee. The world and its friends head out to ghabga and we get some really ugly car park behaviour.
Just a couple of days ago, I saw a sports car blithely zip into a parking slot reserved for drivers with special needs and walk towards the party with nary a trace of a limp. Or else, there will be drivers who jump the queue of patiently waiting cars and grab a recently vacated parking space.
Not just during Ramadan but all year round, I think we should have stricter enforcement of traffic rules. And, if you tell me that drivers in other countries are absolutely manic when compared to Bahrain – well, that’s just ‘whataboutery’ because I don’t live in those countries, so my concern is only about Bahrain.
Just like the ‘Baby on Board’ or ‘Children At Play’ signs give you pause and makes you give way and drive slower, I believe we should have a proper system of displaying a special needs sign so that only those drivers can park in the spaces reserved for the handicapped. And, like the airlines do these days, it should be made mandatory to get a ‘doctor’s certificate’ to show the traffic authorities to qualify for this right.
They say we are just a hair’s breadth away from driverless cars in which we can simply feed our location and sit back while the car drives us there remotely.
It makes me shudder to think of the chaos that will result if the proper checks are not put in place.
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