Above the Law

I read this in today's GDN (probably Bahrain's leading English newspaper). This comes from the reader letters section:

Ugly behaviour!
DEAR Yellow Humvee owner, how come I always see your vehicle, I am sure there is only one, it is so ugly, parked illegally?

I have yet to see it properly parked. It is either parked in a handicap reserved spot (Fuddruckers in Adliya), in a no parking zone (i.e. Al Jazira in Zinj) or like I have just seen it at Bahrain Mall almost trying to go through the doors.

Does it come as a mandatory behaviour when you buy an ugly truck like that?

Normand Lachance

Fair enough; I understand this persons frustration. But there is a bit of a bigger issue here, since a LOT of the people living here seem to have the same attitude as the driver of that Humvee. You see it everyday, people parking illegally and blocking the traffic flow of the people behind them, drivers going down the wrong way in a one-way street and then screaming or honking at anyone who comes out their way, speeding way over the speed limit even in the smallest roads with the risk of hitting someone by accident, overtaking the wrong way etc etc.

Sure, a lot of us have driven that way one time or the other; I personally drove like a total jackass for the first year or two after getting my drivers license. It was my "getting familiar with the roads" stage (well, thats what I like to call it anyway. But since then i've grown up, i've seen the nuisance it causes other people, and i've seen some of the dangers as well. I would like to think a lot of the people who start driving understand this after a while of driving.

But no! Some of the people who do this are either fully grown, fathers, or people who have been obviously behind the drivers seat for years. Why do you have to act like such jackasses? Why do people in this part of the world think they own the road, or that they have a sort of "do whatever the hell you want with no sympathy or consideration for other drivers" pass?

Just today morning on my way to work, I drove down a one way road through a little alley. Now when I almost reached the exit of the alley, someone drove into it and faced me. He was obviously driving the wrong way, and all he had to do was reverse his car the odd 2 meters or so, so that I can leave. But he just waited there for me to reverse all the way back out of the alley so that he can get his way!

After a few seconds, he rolled down his window to which I thought he was going to apologize, but no, he started shouting at me to move because he was late for work.

A few points here;
1- YOU'RE late for work, its your problem, leave earlier next time!
2- YOU'RE going down the wrong way, and I have the right of way, so stop blocking the road!
3- EVEN IF neither of us had the right of way, your backing up 2 meters is a lot easier than me backing up a good 30 meters or so down a tight alley!

And they believe they are god's gift to the roads. Mr White Cressida Plate No 14555, if you're reading this, you aren't!

We are not above the law guys. Unfortunately this behavior doesn't apply just to road laws and manners. You see it all over our community; the woman who walks into the bank to withdraw some cash, and at seeing a queue of 10 or 20 people or so decides to bypass them and go directly to the counter and demand to be served before anyone else? Or how about the customer who walks into a busy restaurant, and at being told there are no tables starts shouting at the waitress demanding to be seated? I've seen it, and I continue to see it.

We need to change this behavior; its hindering a lot of development, and is slowly promoting hate between one another. Now when i'm driving in my car, based on the road environment we have, I consider all other cars enemies that are there to take my spot. All customers in a bank other than me are adversaries and I need to get served before them. And so on and so on...

It would be nice if we try to consider other people before acting on our own selfish needs. The world does not revolve around each and every single one of us!