Driving Miss Dhakayah

Driving here is pretty scary.  Every time we hit the road, we are really putting the ADVENTURE in Our Arabian Adventure.  So when Mike went to the old McDonnell Douglas compound the other day and saw this sign on the gate as he left, we all got a good laugh!

Ha!

Yeah - good luck!  It's a veritable zoo out there.  I don't really have any pictures of the traffic here, but it's chaotic.  Sometimes there are lane lines and sometimes there are not.  Sometimes there are street signs or stop signs or interstate signs, and sometimes there are not.  Not that any of these signs really matter anyway - men just drive the way they want to, like animals herding in the road.  (I really don't mean that in a derogatory way, just objectively; the way the cars bunch up around turns or mesh together for an intersection, it really does look like sheep all squooshed together and running forward.)  Do you find yourself in the right lane, and need to do a quick left U-turn to turn around and go the other way?  No problem!  No, don't bother to signal - just do it.  Allah will protect your car.

The Saudis here REALLY DO think that either Allah will protect them in their cars, or it was their time to die.  That's why they don't wear seat belts.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Usually, the driver (husband or father) has one on, but women don't wear them supposedly because it has to go across their chests, giving them "shape", and kids are just loose in the car.  Yes.  Just loose in the car.  On all the roads, including the interstate.  It is so hard to watch.  The really progressive Saudis have car seats, but they don't strap their kids in to the seat - they just sit them there with no belt.  (Seems so me that that places them up higher and so they are more likely to be injured.)  So it's no wonder that the top killer of kids over 4 is car crashes (the top killer of kids under 4 is drowning, with car crashes being second...why drowning is so high will be the subject of a future post.)  It's also no wonder that the interstates are all called  "Highway of Death", by westerners at least.

Here we are on a Highway of Death (this is the road to Abqaiq) with slightly-less-than-typical traffic.  Notice how the sand continually blows over the road.  It would cover the road completely, except that there are bulldozers all along the side that push the sand back off the road.  (Not that they give you any warning of where the bulldozers are.) (Lawrence, our Vehicle Boy, LOVED this!)  But notice how quickly we come upon one that does have a barrel out front.  Yikes!  And people drive whatever speed they want, too.  We are going about 70 mph here.  (Also, just try to block out all three kids crying and the kid music in the background.  That's what we do, too.)

(LHS - don't play this while the baby is sleeping!)

We decided that Allah helps those who help themselves, so back when we were buying, we bought the biggest, most humongous metal car we could find, and we strap ourselves and all our kids in so tight that they can barely move.  That way, if something happens, at least we will be as safe as we can be, and certainly better off than the other people.  And we'll take that wish for good luck, McDonnell Douglas - thanks!  - we're going to need it.

PS Dhakayah is an Arabic girl's name meaning "intelligent".