Driving with the Saudis

By Rolo B. Cena
Arabian Diaries
Dumaguete Star Informer
17 January 2010

It was practically a weary Saturday for me. Besides having not rested well due to the previous day’s sports marathon, the usual office routine made me weak and restless: answering hundreds of emails, attending to phone calls and pressing matters, entertaining employees with all their complaints, and my usual daily HR counseling. These all consumed my dynamism and drained my energy that should have been spared for the night’s activity: table tennis.

By 5:10 in the afternoon, the thirteen of us including the driver were all set to leave the plant for Al-Khobar where all of us are accommodated. Al-Khobar, the commercial center of the Eastern Province is approximately 100 kilometers from Dammam where our plant is located.

Apparently from the manner our driver maneuvered the Nissan Urvan, I sensed something was going to happen. Nope, not because I mean he is rude; my third eye just worked instantly. I recited a prayer to myself, “Lord, what if . . .”

To ease the worry, I was singing praise songs during this trip to comfort myself and to hopefully abort the morbid scene I envisioned. Never did I tell anyone about what I have seen. In the previous experience, if I tell anyone about my visions and he does not believe, I get sick. I was already not feeling well that moment and so why should I, I thought.

As we neared the scene, I increased the beat of my song. This time I was singing for the first time since I arrived in Saudi Arabia these lines from a song the title of which I already forgot: “I’m trading my sorrows/ I’m trading my shame/ I’m laying it down for the joy of the Lord.”// I’m trading my sickness/ I’m trading my pain/ I’m laying it down for the joy of the Lord.// . . .I’m pressed but not crushed/ persecuted not abandoned./ struck down but not destroyed./ I’m blessed beyond the curse for his promise will endure./ his joy is gonna be my strength./ for the sorrow will last for the night/ the joy comes in the morning.//

We were running at a speed of 100 to 120 kph; I knew this because he is the same driver who usually drives me for my official business trips. The maximum speed we hit is just normal in the highways of the Kingdom.

Suddenly, I heard our van screeching to a full stop precisely to avoid bumping the Grand Marquis ahead of us; Grand Marquis took a full stop to avoid hitting the car ahead of it. Unfortunately, our driver made a big bang against the car. Instantly I prayed for safety. Toyota Camry bumped us from behind which was hit by Nissan Pick-up. Then another car hit the pick-up and on and on. In short, it was a chain of collision involving seven cars. The big truck was just next to our right awaiting for a wrong turn or twist. Silence enveloped all of us momentarily.

No one panicked; our driver did not. Had our driver shifted the gear to his right with the car behind us hitting us from behind, we could have been hit turning horizontal across the multi-lane highway and tilted, or the big truck next to our right would have hit us to total damage. Lives would have been claimed.

It was a twist of fate. We were still lucky. Yes, we are still lucky, indeed.

In frenzied staccato, I turned my back and focused on the Nissan Pick-up. Its gasoline pulped out of the car and the two passengers were smoking. In panic, they threw their lighted cigarettes into the island and stopped the engine. Explosion or fire would have ensued had these two Saudis failed to recognize the clear and present danger.

Quickly, I requested everybody to unload the van; I called our Government Relations Officer for some assistance. Highway Police arrived at the scene and we were advised to leave the area by taking taxi cabs. We left our driver in the scene along with the Saudi GRO.

The following day, I asked our driver what happened during the interrogation and to whom was the blame laid on. He narrated that he was blamed for all these and that he was sentenced to a two night imprisonment due to “reckless imprudence”. Our GRO, using his connection with the police, appealed and our driver was released.

By happenstance, the drivers of these six cars involved in the collision are Saudis. Ours is an Indian guy who has been driving in Saudi Arabia for about fifteen years now and presumably has already had the feel of the road courtesies (or discourtesies) of the Saudis in the Kingdom. What is peculiar of this driver is that he drives carefully-to-recklessly too fast. If I have to rate the qualitative side of his driving skills, I would give him 6.

Saudi guys drives as fast as racing to the finish for the grand prix. They love to cut motions and swiftly swerve ahead. If they are cut, they would trick by cutting and stopping abruptly time and again until the driver of the car behind them got irritated. Even if they intend to turn to their right, from the focal point they stay on the left and make immediate turn without signaling. They open their car doors in the middle of the road; they stop in the middle of the road. They don’t care about traffic rules; much more, traffic violations. They fight against traffic police; they fight against anybody on the street.

Driving down the thoroughfares of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not that easy. Sometimes, according to some Filipino drivers, it becomes nightmarish as the “Nightmare on Elm Street”. Only those with the guts can manage to drive comfortably and get the glory.

Driving with the Saudis along the highways of this foreign land is not that easy and comfortable. While anywhere in the world incidents like these take place, employing precautionary measures should be executed at all times. We were just lucky and there was a twist of fate. We were saved!

Source: http://arbeecena.blogspot.com/2010/08/driving-with-saudis.html