Driving

Sad sad sad people

This is the price you pay for living with such people

Do not react

Stay safe

this not a joke its the road her those people coming from the south of pakistan or from ather several country they didnt even saw a car befor how you wana them to respect the road and trafice law they are realy need 100 years to be donkys what im trying to tell you dont give your finger to those people again coz some people like (batan) might be very agresive so be carfull of that ...just say hi to thim when that happened again

Wrong thread

Dear Mr. Steve

Don' t worry, you did nothing wrong while driving. The only "wrong" you did was to show your anger and indignation in the wrong way. Your salutation has a sexual context and in these countries anything with a sexual context is highly inflammatory. You might wanty to avoid that in the future As well as the words pig and dog. Next time call him an idiot.

You were dealing with someone who regarded themselves as infinitely superior to he rest of mankind, and you are and will certainly not be the only one who gets in this gentleman's way. The best thing to do is be thankful you came out of this safely breathe deeply swallow the insult and be on your way. You handled the situation well by going to the traffic division. These kind of people are highly frustrated by the demands of their everyday life and not even small children are safe from their wrath.

Stay calm, don't worry about any follow-ups they usually don't come. They just like to scare and intimidate. For future emergencies keep some hairspray or deodorant beneath your car seat for serious emergencies. NOT for intimidations.

Birgit

Every country has their idiots look at us we have Tony blair if everyone was the same life would be boring not that any one person could try to educate some basic manners into some people!

The voice of wisdom.

There's also been some 18th/19th Century characterization of Arabs in this post but it goes to show the true personality of the poster.

hey mstrstever,

I'm sorry you had to experience this, especially with your wife. I agree, driving in Qatar is very aggressive and dangerous, even I, a land cruiser-driving local sometimes find driving to much to handle.

You always need to keep your cool and smile. It’s hard but it needs time getting used too. The best way to fight back jerks on the road is to remain cool and whenever they give any hand gesture is to smile back. I remember being cut off on a round about once, the guy had the guts to wave his hand at me as if I was at fault. Instead of getting angry, I smiled back and made a “I’m sorry� gesture with my hand. I could see the person becoming very humiliated at my humble reaction. I could off given him the finger, but that would just make him more excited. It felt good being able to shame him and his insane driving.

Another advice, never, ever, under any circumstance give the middle finger. Do as many hand gestures as you want but never the middle finger, or any other form of the middle finger. Last time I got the middle finger from someone both I and the two guys in the other car ended up being taken in police cars to the police station.

By the way folks, sure most crazy drivers are the younger locals guys, but Ive seen a fair share of crazy driving expats.

Badawais – I was actually very offended by your comment. Thank god im educated and civilized enough to realize those worthy of arguing with and those who are not worth me getting work up for. I just hope all can read your cheap jab and lame attempt at humour and realize the sort of person you really are… a true racist.. shame on you !!.

Holy cow, I never expected recanting this story would elicit such an overwhelming response. I love all the input. Yes... even the ones I disagree with. Just because I dont agree with some comments doesn't mean they don't have their place here. Thank you all. I have learned and I hope grown from the experience with all of you helping me to understand a culture I came to live among virtually blind to customs, do's and don'ts.

that was a rhetorical question, duh

You've asked a question..and replay your self

i have no further comment ;)

why would qtel block a forum cause the members discussed politics?! i didn't know we were living in a police state?!

sorry to disappoint you again, genesis but i've seen with my own eyes locals exempted from paying speeding tickets and other traffic fines the second they flashed their ID's at the officers when renewing vehicle registration. Not necessarily indicative of corruption in the country..but rather that the government is a tad lenient when it comes to imposing certain laws.

Do you know anyone in the police, I have a question.

When I had to renew my vehicle road permit, I had to pay a fine of Qr.200/- When I checked with the police that it was impossible for me to have commited the crime as I live on the other side of town (Airport area) and what would I be doing in Khalifa town north at 6 on a Friday morning. They told me to pay up or go to court and pay a court fee of 1,000, which would I prefer. I paid up.

When I checked up on

www.gov.qa/english/index/htm I found that there is another vehicle under "Private transportation" with an identical number plate. My vehicle comes under "private vehicle"

I checked again now, before my post, and this guy has Qrs1,200/- from three fines outstanding.

The first people who should start practicing the law are the law inforcement officials themselves.

These guys drive bad, smoke, hold the phone to their ear while having a whale of a time chatting with their friends or girlfriends. So why should they be bothered about anyone else, and usually if they catch a local, a sniff of the nose and everything is back to normal.

When I say these guys I am referring to the police.

Appart from the fine for the first 3 times there should be a point system, where after you reach 6 points the driving licence is taken away for 6 months, further fines lead to extended periods of not driving.

What I see is that most of the time with the expensive cars, paying a fine or getting it erased is no big deal.

Genesis the law is not enforced at all. People barely ever get fined and most of the fines that actually occur are from speed cameras. The police barely have a presence here and even when they do they do not stop anyone

People who are caught pay the fine when renewing their vehicle permit.

I know so many people whom already were fined.

The sad thing, they don’t seem to care!

There is no actual value for money with some people.

This is another subject that I avoid to go through. To not have this forum get blocked by QTEL ;)

In Novitas defence genesis its common knowledge here that that law is not enforced. I have never heard of anyone getting fined for it, and I see people all the time talking on their cellphones while driving, including me. It's enforced as well as the no-smoking in public places laws are.

"few months back police launch this campaign about driving with mobile phone. They said 200 QR fine if you got cought talking on the mobile phone while driving. But nothing happen afterall ... nobody enforce the law"

The law is enforced. And violated person pay the fine when renewing the vehicle road permit.

And No there are no expectation here.

I guess most do control it or bottle it in as I see so much aggressive and rubbish driving and hardly any confrontation.

There's too much bravado in I'd do this and that to him but I never see it in the many incidents I witness every day.

it is realllllyyy hard to control your 'road rage' when you driving in Doha !!!

It's not about being brave or chicken. The golden rule time and time again is back off. Road rage can and does lead to more trouble.

For alternatives try http://www.roadrage.com/samples.htm

And take this test http://roadragers.com/test/index.htm

Some 3rd world countries in Asia have a non-smoking rule in certain place and obeyed by their people. Either they are local or foreigner.

In Qatar ... they have non smoking law as well ... but did u notice that loads of people (especially the local people), blatantly ignore the sign??? Don't u think it make Qatar as a 4th world country???

Once my 4 yrs son come to the table next to us, and talk to the qatari guy who smoke in front of the smoking sign, "Why do u smoke when there is non-smoking sign???".

About the driving ... few months back police launch this campaign about driving with mobile phone. They said 200 QR fine if you got cought talking on the mobile phone while driving. But nothing happen afterall ... nobody enforce the law. Even worse the police also driving with the mobile phone.

I would not follow someone like that. My wife was more upset at his following us than she was that he had come over and opened my door and carrying on.

-Steve-O

I wouldn't sleep well thats for sure.

Someone nearly ran into me once at a roundabout. I sounded my horn at him and he was clearly annoyed. So i just followed him. Everywhere he went, i was there. Eventually, he had to go home and i made sure he saw me.

I dont think he slept very well.

MstrSteve, My neighbour spent a day in jail for giving the finger for the exact same reason. He didn't know the guy was an off duty cop. In your situation it would be you to blame not him. Giving the finger is not just against cultural norms here it's against the law.

yeah that would be fine if he is a well built bloke but if he is on the small size it would not work also you could one day do it to the wrong person!

I think I would have reacted the same way if someone had put my family in danger like that so good on ya mate. He was probably bluffing, thinking that you would be afraid to go to the police or traffic so you did well to go there. I often have similar confrontations and being firm in your stand is what would really save you.

Mrsteve you should have got out of the car and faced up to him. Arabs over here to a lot of arm waving but run away when it gets serious.

yyzguy you should have completed kindergarten

"Either get used to the norms prevalent here, or just get the hell out"

This is Harsh. Don’t you think?

The guy made a comment. This by the way is so true.

And we "locals" can't deny that, Allot behave badly behind the wheels.

Blame it on education or ignorance.

I say it is mentality & frustration.

Don’t think this problem is not tickled. Local news papers columns & cartoons are mocking such behavior daily. Traffic department with concern parties are organizing an annul campaign. Yet nothing changed.

I hope one day it will.

Angel Face, I suggest you return to the Philippines then. Arabs are a proud people, and they will never bow to anybody, not least foreigners!

If you're not happy with the cultural norms in the Arab world, then you shouldn't be here. "Freedom", "Liberty", "Egalitarianism" are very good cosmetic terms, but are seldom enforced in this part of the world.

Either get used to the norms prevalent here, or just get the hell out.

I don't see why you should allow yourself to be jerked around. I'm from the Philippines and I know for a fact that the reason why my country hasn't prospered is because we've got a lot of corrupt scums all over the place, and their population is growing. Why? Because we let them. Because nobody has the guts to say "no, I will not allow it".

If you let them get away with something, thinking that it's no big deal, that it's a small bother not worth fussing over, they're going to think it's ok because they can get away with it. And before you know it, it gets worse and worse, from encouraging felons to raising criminals.

I decided to leave my country because I want a better life, but if Qatar will eventually be no different from where I came from, then I'd much rather be home with my family.

I had a finger incedent myself. I, a female, was driving my SUV and had my toddler in the back. In front of me was a national in his sedan chatting on his mobile phone. The road ahead was dug up and the 3 lanes merged into one. Then right before that bottle neck the guy, who was driving pretty slowly which i found unusual, slowed down even more & went to the right. So i just gave a tiny honk to announce i'm going through. He just swerved all of sudden in front of me almost hitting my front wheel. I just slammed on the brakes. Then he gave me the middle finger! Twice!! He looked at me thru his rearview mirror & did that! I was so shocked, i didn't know what to do. Then i decided i was going to cut him off, stop, get out of my car & give him a piece of my mind on how this is not Islamic & unacceptable to be done to anyone especially to a woman. Then on second thought i didn't do anything for fear of what his reaction would be, especially as I'm middle eastern not a westerner. But the violation i felt & frustration of not being able to fight back was undescribable. I'm still fuming, months later.

my bad, tg.

forgive me if i'm a little weary of you. sometimes it's a little hard to make out who's hurling insults at whom on here.

Mocha ..whats wrong..If you read the post above about the ....not allowing civilized thing getting in.....I did not mean to insult you..Where did you get that from??

"generalized invectives"

hmm..i sense an insult. but i'll turn the other cheek anyway.

I agree mocha...Its was completely uncalled for..generalized invectives hardly point towards civilized behaviour either...

no offense to your "no offense" but that towel comment was a bit uncalled for :)

Is nothing n just give away. Record the car plate number n discuss the matter with the nearest police dept. It may work or not but at least u got it out of ur system n maybe, just maybe, the guy may get in trouble. I done the complaining thing once to the police but nothing happened so maybe u will have better luck :P Since then, I just give away n just stay cool, but that's maybe cause I used to do the same crazy stuff as those guys when I was young in my old Maxima (H).. Now I have a Land cruiser n all I do is give-in n let them pass.. How much have I changed??!! :)

What is really funny about most all of the things that happen in Qatar is there are laws from the Emir and these people disrespect him everytime they drive badly, smoke in the mall, throw trash on the road, etc.

If I issued a law and these people kept dis-respecting my authority, we would have a crack down. Make me King for a day and we would fix some of this stuff. (might take 2 days)

get your windows tinted. all around even the front wind shield. when they cant see you.. they drive off.

or

If you are a westerner..and something like this happens to you.. just get out of your car and confront the guy.. I gurantee you that he wont lay a finger on you.

But if you from south asia .. youre better off locking your doors. and try to driveoff even if it requires you backing up in the middle of the road.

because their towels keep something civilized getting in their heads.....

....no offense to anyone.

thank you very much.

Otto

broken up arabic for "you have no brain"

hi e46M3, what does "Inta mafi muk" stand for?

I'd bust up laughing. You can't spend your time confronting these days otherwise you wouldn't get anywhere.

is in deed different. I´m not the youngest anymore, drove in a lot of places, but this is really amazing. Started to drive here in Doha just 5 days ago (rental car) and had more nasty moments than I had in Germany over the last 5 years. Yes, you need to stay calm, counting up to 10, and just think how it might and could be. I´m an expat, and we are actually the "driving majority". But I also saw more then "10 Expats" driving in the same way as a few locals do. And not all the locals are driving like crazy.

So, why don´t we start to drive like backhome?

female

Once, when I was driving home late at night, a Landcruiser came up behind me flashing its lights and wanting me to switch lanes so he could keep going insanely fast in the left lane -- as they do. This time I decided not to switch lanes; I was turning left at the next roundabout, and since I was going over the speed limit anyway it's not like the other driver could legitimately be upset I was slowing him down.

The Landcruiser driver swerved dangerously around me, cut me off, and then slammed on his brakes and brought his car to a halt. I, of course, had to come to a stop right behind him. He leapt out of his car and started towards my car, shouting. Then he caught sight of me, blanched, turned around, got back in his car and drove off.

I've sort of been assuming that he thought better of coming to intimidate a single female. But maybe I'm just really scary-looking? It's a mystery.

I have never backed down in a diving incident where a national or any other national for that matter was involved. Get out of the car and confront them always seemed to work. They tended to back off.

Giving the finger is an insult to them so avoid if possible.

"Inta mafi muk" is as good as anything to say.

I only get upset when it is my wife who is put at risk by the thoughtlessness of another. If she had gotten injured in the incident I would have been ready/wanting to hurt him equally. I am not a violent person but if someone hurts my wife/family I will do everything in my power to do or make something be done about it. If it is directed at me however, I have no problem letting it go.

-Steve-O

mstrsteve

Interesting thing happened to a man that my husband works with today. He was driving to work when an SUV came up behind him very quickly. The SUV was flashing his lights, beeping his horn at our friend to move over. He moved over as soon as it was safe to do so, however, there were three other vehicles that he had to get by first. When the SUV came past our friend he came close to side swiping him, and made some type of hand gesture. Our friend returned a hand gesture of his own , just before he realized it was a police office on his way to work. Our friend stopped and was told to follow him back to the police station. In order to get this resolved, a very high up local offical of the company had to get involved.

We did learn through this that giving the finger is against the law, it is the only hand gesture that is mentioned in the law.

its the least you'd expect when a country's police force is run by a bunch of pre-pubescent teenage boys trapped in the bodies of adults

It's a surprise, if you have not seen the Police vehicles breaking a lot of traffic laws in Qatar.

Driving over the foot path, overtaking from the wrong side, no seatbelt. Turn on their lights and after passing the traffic jam, back to normal. Speeding, speaking on the mobile without hands free, etc.

All types of vehicles following the police car on the hard right (which is supposed to be for parking vehicles) and getting ahead without a bother that you have been in queue for maybe 45min to an hour.

Man the list can go on and on.

Steve, the best advice I can give is, if you can give way while driving, just do it. They have no qualms about ramming you or suddenly brake infront of you, when you meet with an accident, they will have another vehicle at home that they can use, you will need to spend more to rent.

Swallow your pride and you will be safer (Just ignore them and they will go away - I do that).

Not much you can do, Steve. If you hadn't given him the finger I might say take his license plate number and complain to the police but believe me you don't want to go there. It's like travelling back in time and a complete waste of time.

I carry my 2 kids in the back seat and even when they're not there the safety seats in the back remind me to be as defensive a driver as possible. Although I do put pedal to the metal at times it's always when I'm alone and the road is relatively traffic free.

Sometimes I wag my index finger at people as if they've been naughty but it's no use.

I wish I had an on-board camera in my car to film the idiocy of some. Or just to film the tissues and rubbish they throw out of their cars.

Calm down, be especially wary of SUVs and let your wife do what she's best at; a calming influence on you. They're great at that.

dunno why it does that sometimes (posts my sig 2x)

-Steve-O

What is "done here" to express to other one's discontent with what they are doing? Placing my wife's life in danger warrants a response from me and I feel I would not be doing my job as her husband if I did not say/do something when she is jeapordized. I could care less what he did if I was alone in the car but I wasn't. I'm sure he would have had sone rude gesture of his own if it was his wife.

-Steve-O

You gave him the finger which isn't done here.

How long have you been here? You'll have to get used to the offensive driving and disrespect shown by many drivers towards other drivers and of traffic law and regulations.

I think you need to formulate an approach on how to handle this stuff.

People are always using strip-mall slip roads (like the one near Starbucks) to get past traffic backed up at the Ramada lights, or they simply cut in while you've been waiting for minutes on end for the light to turn green, or at traffic lights. It happens to me everyday, many times. No matter how expensive the offender's car, how big it is or how few digits are on his license plate it tells me a lot about him and people like that will need a hundred years just to become donkeys, according to a friend of mine.

I realize how frustrating this is and how angry you can get. Unfortunately without traffic police clamping down on such behavior it's just going to get worse. And the traffic police are just as guilty. I once was driving home when I saw a patrol car parked outside the walls of my compound. The patrolmen had just finished lunch and one of them opened his door and dumped the remains of their lunch in the road. Then they drove away.