I Sure Hope So or That was Awful Fast

I'm not sure that four days is really enough to draw conclusions, but:

Traffic offences and accidents have dropped in [Al Ain] - with police saying drivers are being more cautious following the implementation of new unified traffic laws.

The police have not recorded a fatal accident in the city and its surrounding areas since Saturday when the law came into effect.

The cynic in me says that this is just more of the same old, same old, but then my taxi driver this morning remarked how he didn't run through a yellow/red light because of the new fines, and two of my co-workers noted (without my asking) how the new laws are making them take extra care.

Of course, my inner cynic also wonders how many thousands have died needlessly, if these sorts of rules would have made traffic safer over the years.

One good thing

There has been a lot of complaining about the traffic problems that President Bush's visit has caused, but the Gulf News reports one good thing:

...motorists reported seeing a complete lack of disregard for road rules... (emphasis added)

A complete lack of disregard for the traffic rules sure sounds like a good thing, since the usual order around here is a complete lack of regard for the rules of the road.

At Least We Know Exactly How Many Tickets

So there may be conflicting police stories of how many died on the roads over Eid, but the Dubai Police seem to have a better idea of how many tickets were issued during Eid: 26,937 (Gulf News) or 26,057 (7Days), along with 138 confiscated vehicles.

Actually, the Gulf News version makes it sound like 26,937 tickets were issued and another 17,057 speeding tickets issued via cameras (at least that is how I read "traffic patrols and traffic control teams issued 26,937 traffic offences, while radars caught 17,057 speeding offences", but that seems both very high and unlikely (in that the police would manually stop and write out more tickets than the cameras would catch). But their total seems more accurate over all (for the 7Days figure to be right, the police would have had to written exactly 9,000 tickets, so I'm going with 26,937). So this means that on average a little less than four people per minute were ticketed during the five day period.

The only problem with raw numbers like this is that there is nothing to compare it to. It would be nice to know what the average is both for any five day period as well as previous Eids. I did see this story from July 2006 that the police issued 25,000+ speeding tickets during a nine-day safety campaign, so rate during Eid was about three times as high as that.

I Guess It Depends on Who You Ask

We, in theory, live in the Information Age. But how good is the information that we are being given? Take these seriously conflicting statistics about accidents during Eid, all taken from the police, reported in the three main English language papers:

Khaleej Times:

During the Eid Al Adha holidays, more than 500 traffic accidents were reported in the emirate of Dubai, resulting in injuries to several people. However, no casualty was reported.

(I assume from the context that the author meant "no fatalities" and not "no casualty", since injured people are casualties.)

7Days:

In Dubai, officers said there had been 65 accidents, with four people left dead and 46 injured - some seriously - over the three days.

Gulf News:

Two people were killed and several others were injured in traffic accidents during Eid holidays in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.

7Days:

In Al Ain, eight people died and 39 injured in crashes...

So, in Dubai, the death toll was either zero or four. In both Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, the death toll was two, or in Al Ain alone the death toll was eight.

An Answer (Five Months Late)

Back in July, I wrote about people living in Al Ain and working in Dubai, and in the comments it was asked about average rent in Al Ain, which I didn't know. The Gulf News had an article the other day that seems to answer this question;

According to Asteco's latest figures, annual rent for a new three-bedroom villa at the town centre now hovers around Dh60,000 to Dh75,000, or about Dh15,000 to Dh25,000 more expensive than last year.

On average, current rates for old three-, four- and five-bedroom villas are at Dh45,000, Dh60,000 and Dh70,000 while prices for new villas are at Dh60,000, Dh75,000 and Dh85,000. The figures represent a 35 to 40 per cent rise from last year.

Some new residential properties fetch an annual rent of Dh100,000 to Dh120,000 while office space commands Dh500 to 750 per square metre, depending on location.

So there you go. It is cheaper than Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but getting more expensive (up 30% this year). The story lists several reasons for the increase in demand, but leaves out one really big factor. The additional restrictions on the Al Ain-Buraimi border crossing caused many people who had formerly lived in Buraimi (which has lower rents) and worked in Al Ain to move to Al Ain.

Also, when considering the article, there is one small mistake and one big mistake. It lists the population of Al Ain as 300,000. The Al Ain Times had reported that the population, according to the most recent census, is 400,000. But that is nothing compared to "property prices in Al Ain may be rising, but the emirate is still much cheaper compared to Dubai and Abu Dhabi". Unless I missed it, Al Ain is still just the second largest city in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Dubai - Al Ain commuting

On some discussion boards, I've seen some people inquire about living in Al Ain while working in Dubai. This has always seemed like a bad idea to me, but if the average commute time in Dubai is almost two hours, with some of those living in Sharjah suffering through almost three hours, I wonder if I wrong about this.

Now, I don't know how rent here is compared to Sharjah and Dubai (because I'm very lucky in that the university pays for our rent), so if it is more here than in Sharjah, that would make a difference.

But time-wise, I'm fairly certain that you can get to Al Ain in less than two hours from pretty much anywhere in Dubai. I know that we once left the area of Dubai where the Oasis Mall used to be (I forget what that area is called) on a weekday evening about 6:00 pm, when traffic toward Sharjah was bumper-to-bumper and not really moving on Sheikh Zayed Road, and we still made it back home in less than two hours, and without the stop-and-go traffic and its concomitant frustrations.

I should also note that I don't even drive at the 120 kph speed limit on the Dubai-Al Ain road. Also, this is all pre-Salik, so that could affect things too.

One more reason to be glad that I don't live in Dubai

The UAE University hosted a meeting of several regional libraries last winter, and during one meal we sat around comparing traffic stories. Hearing horror stories of 4 km commutes taking a half-hour or more reminded me again how lucky we are to be here in Al Ain instead of there (for the record: distance to work for me - about 8 km; time to work, when traffic is at its worst - 11 minutes).

Reading about the implementation of Salik just gives me another reason to feel this way. My favorite part of the story: 'RTA officials said motorists will receive an SMS after they puchase [sic] a tag which will include the account number and pin. "Even if you do not receive it shortly, the tag is automatically activated."'

I especially love the fact that this quote is apparently anonymous. Also, what do you reckon the chances are that those who do not get an SMS confirmation and their tag does not automatically activate will not be able to get out of the fine that will be imposed?

Traffic Safety

Via Marginal Revolution, I found this article in the New York Times about international road safety:

On his travels to almost 100 countries, Barry Goldsmith, a creator of tours for General Tours, says he has worried about risks like terrorism, crime and infectious disease. But one trumps all the others.

"It’s traffic accidents," Mr. Goldsmith said.

Road accidents are "the largest cause of nonnatural death among U.S. citizens overseas," said Betsy L. Anderson, a senior consular official at the State Department.

I've had numerous people in the US tell me that we are "brave" to live here. But the only time that I feel unsafe is on the road here.

The driving here is, well, trying to be polite, exciting. Speed limits are regarded, except in the presence of a radar camera, as mild suggestions. Driving in your own lane is clearly optional, especially in roundabouts. I cannot remember how many cabbies have told me not to put on my seat belt because there are no police around. Stop signs are also regarded as mere decoration. A working horn is regarded as more important than the brakes or good tires.

To top it off, if you do drive sensibly (stop at stop signs, wait for a clear break in traffic to pull out, stop when pedestrians are in the road, not run yellow lights, pay attention to the lane direction markings, drive in your lane in roundabouts - this happened to me again today, etc.), you will only make your fellow drivers mad, which they will gladly demonstrate by honking at you.

By the way, I'm not singling out any nationality here, because pretty much everyone is terrible, just in different ways. Luckily I haven't had any friends die in accidents here - yet. But three times I have heard of friends of friends being killed, and when you remember just how small the Western expat community is here in Al Ain, that is a scary fact.

The really dumb thing about the aggressive driving is that it isn't even accomplishing anything. Following the traffic rules (for the most part, I do speed a little bit, like doing 70 kph in a 60 zone) there is no part of Al Ain that I cannot get to in more than 15 minutes. How much time could I possibly save by driving recklessly? Five minutes maybe? And the same is true on the highways. It only takes me an hour to an hour and a quarter to get to Dubai at 120 kph. How much time can you really save by driving foolishly? Is it worth risking your life and the lives of others to get where you are going a few minutes earlier?

I was glad (and a little surprised) to read that "Americans are among the most polite drivers in the world" though.

Reward for Good Driving

So Damas is offering a reward for three years of clean driving. But the story is awful thin on details, so it isn't clear what exactly is going on. Amoung the unanswered questions:

- Is this open to all nationalities or only nationals?
- Are the three years retroactive or does it have to be three years starting now?

There is an old expression that the "devil is in the details" so it is difficult to judge this proposal without those details. I know of a case where a company made a very splashy announcement about donating equipment to a university, garnering publictiy for themselves.

But when the actual equipment arrived, it was so shoddy that the recipients were actually worse off than it was before the donation. Obviously I'm not accusing Damas of doing something like this here. But it would be nice to see the details of the proposal.

Blackbox for cars

"The device will start once the engine is running. The device will record data 14 seconds before and six seconds after an impact."

If this thing is smart enough to know I'm going to have an accident 14 seconds in advance, why not just tell the driver "Hey! You are going to have an accident in 14 seconds!" Wouldn't that be even more helpful?

Why do this?

I'm not blaming the victim in this story; he did nothing to deserve being killed. But, why in the world would anyone block another driver just to fuss at them?

I had a similar thing happen to me last year not long after I got here, though of course without the tragic ending. I pulled out into a roundabout and a driver coming from within the roundabout was upset that I did so. He felt that I shouldn't have pulled out in front of him, I think that he was going too fast. We were probably both wrong. So he honked at me and I finished my left turn, thinking that was the end of it.

Instead this guy followed me for about three kilometers swerving all around me, almost ramming me off the road. I finally stopped in a well lit and populated area, since I had no idea what he would do. He came up to me and tried to criticize my driving but didn't really speak English well enough to be effective (his opening line was "What is driving?", which just confused me instead of insulting me). After kind of stumbling around verbally for a minute, I told him I was sorry and he insisted no, he was sorry and we went on our way.

But from beginning to end it was such a stupid thing to do. Suppose that he was completely in the right, which may be. He did six really dangerous things to get me to pull over to tell me that I had done something dangerous.

The Car

So, to complete the car saga, the dealer's representitive called about 4:30 yesterday afternoon. already at the traffic office.  So I rushed down there to meet him, we went through the paper work, got the car registration and a piece of paper, and the clerk told me to leave the car there, since I couldn't get the plate until tomorrow.  This sort of suprised me, since in America the plates are pre-made (usually by prison inmates) and just handed to you when you register the car.

Instead, the dealer's rep and I went to a little cinderblock building and gave the receipt to him so that he could make the plates.  This morning I picked up the plates and a man in the parking lot punched holes in the plates and attached them to the van for a small fee.  So watch out, they have let me loose on the roads of Al Ain.  On the way to the library from the traffic office I already infuriated a cabbie in a round about.

Taxis

Since I don't have a car yet (I can't buy one until I get my resident visa), I'm having to take taxis everywhere. Riding in a taxi here is quite an experience. Nearly all the drivers are from Pakistan, with a few Bangladeshis and Afghans. And almost none of them speak English, so you have to communicate in Arabic. Unfortunately, most of them don't speak Arabic either (I am assured that this is true by my Arab co-workers), so you have to give directions (like "left", "right", "straight", "here") in a language that neither one of you really understand.

Another thing that makes getting around in a taxi so interesting is that no one uses street addresses or street names. Unless you are going to a well known landmark (mall, hotel, etc), then you have to give the neighborhood or district that you want to go to and then give directions from there.

The last thing that makes taxis rides so interesting is manner in which the drivers drive. I am constantly amazed that there are not more accidents involving these guys. In terms of obeying speed limits, lane discipline, stop signs, and the like, they are awful drivers. But in terms of awareness of what is going on around them and avoiding trouble, they are amazing.

One last thing, the most important part of a taxi seems to be the horn. The driver uses it to ask if you need a ride, to signal to someone he knows, to warn pedestrians (the concept of 'the pedestrian has the right of way' is more like 'the pedestrian has the right to stay out of my way' here), to criticize someone else's driving, and to tell those in front of him that the light changed to green a milisecond ago.