Tuesday, February 21, 2006

What did you do in the rain, Daddy?

It rained overnight in the UAE. This morning the roads are wet and my drive to work involved the use of headlights and windscreen wipers. By a staggering piece of good fortune I bought new wiper blades yesterday!

At just about every sharp bend and junction in town on this morning's commute in was a bent vehicle with a police officer in attendance. It would seem that there are a lot of drivers who, to put it bluntly, can't drive in the rain. The expatriate population vastly outnumbers the locals, and most expats come from countries where wet roads are commonplace; Europe, India, Canada. But it would seem that there are a lot of drivers out there who have forgotten that wet roads are slippery.

Add to this some very dodgy tyres - the popular balloon sand tyres are pretty poor on asphalt at the best of times, and cheap Chinese rubber is similarly hopeless - and no apparent laws relating to minimum tread depth, and we have a recipe for a lot of trade down the panel-beating souq.

Incidentally, following an accident, it's unwise to move the vehicle until a policeman has attended and issued an accident report. Thus there is gridlock.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hummmm....having slid the company tuarus and nudged a bank, then got drug tested by the company (passed honestly) i am not amused! it seems wet slippery mud doesnt behave the same as desert, and a front wheel drive is not maych for a land cruiser...pegs

Grumpy Goat said...

I thought It Never Rains in Southern California??

 

The opinions expressed in this weblog are the works of the Grumpy Goat, and are not necessarily the opinions shared by any person or organisation who may be referenced. Come to that, the opinions may not even be those of the Grumpy Goat, who could just be playing Devil's Advocate. Some posts may be of parody or satyrical [sic] nature. Nothing herein should be taken too seriously. The Grumpy Goat would prefer that offensive language or opinions not be posted in the comments. Offensive comments may be subject to deletion at the Grumpy Goat's sole discretion. The Grumpy Goat is not responsible for the content of other blogs or websites that are linked from this weblog. No goats were harmed in the making of this blog. Any resemblance to individuals or organisations mentioned herein and those that actually exist may or may not be intentional. May contain nuts.