Driving in the UAE

The general expat sentiment towards driving in the UAE revolves around a few of the following words – aggressive, dangerous, horrendous, rude, etc. But having been on the roads for a little over two weeks now, driving here feels rather alright (maybe because it's not too fantastic either in Singapore), save for the unlucky day when you meet a driver who woke up on the wrong side of bed or another that fancies himself to be Lewis Hamilton. It is also true that UAE has the dubious honor of having one of the most lethal roads in the world, and even boasts of oddities like this woman who has racked up a million dirhams worth of traffic fines. With all that said, our Mini adventure has been safe, to assure our loved ones back home, and quite interesting to say the least. A list of top 5 of the quirkiest here:

1. Asking for Directions
*Honk Honk*
*Winds down side window*
“Marina Mall, where?”
“Turn right, then turn left”.

If you find yourself at a traffic light, and a neighboring car honks twice at you, chances are he is asking for directions. It is widely assumed that all taxi drivers know where everything is (not really, from my experience) and so, it becomes commonplace to see this double honk happening to them. Somehow, either I look like a taxi driver (not) or looked like I was local (NOT), and got honked at once. Fortunately, it was a mall I knew how to get to. Achievement unlocked.

By the way, red lights are notoriously long waits, and apparently young people take to making use of this wait to exchange phone numbers when they see someone that sets their hearts a-racing.

2. Salik Sticker / Mawaqif
Well done, Singapore. First the Londoners adopted your fine little invention called the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system, now Dubai has done the same too. Very soon, NYC, Shanghai, Beijing, and god-knows-where-else will have this ERP-like thing too to ‘reduce traffic’. Salik means clear in Arabic. To use, simply buy their prepaid RFID chip orange sticker to affix it on the windshield behind the rear view mirror. As the cars whizz past the gantry (looks eerily similar to the ERP back home), AED 4 (~USD 1) is deducted automatically from the account. Honestly, it doesn’t seem like anyone cares about the charge, at least in Dubai. Salik allows for one to top up online and even helpfully sends an SMS whenever the balance runs low. Everything is electronic, tres convenient.

A cure for homesickness..not.
Image Credit: Construction Week Online

Same thing for the Mawaqif, which is Abu Dhabi’s parking system. Compose your SMS > Premium or non-premium parking > how many hours > Send! THAT’S IT! No need to worry about anyone coming to fine you with a ticket because everything is electronic and linked to the car registration. And when your time expires, you get an SMS to ask if you wish to extend. Easy does it. All those countries still poking coupons, time for a change (especially if your residents have >1 cellphone on average)!

We honestly far prefer this way of letting people top up themselves upfront through reminders rather than enforcing rules via the threat of fines. Just sayin'.

3. Petrol Kiosks
Kate has mentioned it before. Petrol is incredibly cheap here in the UAE (about a third of the price in Singapore). Also, there’s a certain luxury attached to the petrol kiosks as a consumer:

• There's no need to step out of your car - someone will do everything for you;
• He even offers to wipe your windscreen, if you are so inclined, and finally,
• Pay by simply winding down the side window and handing the cash/card over.

It’s very nice, but at the same time, culturally uneasy.

4. Zebra Crossings
Cars here Just. Do. Not. Stop. The road sign may read 60km/h but speeds will usually traverse in the range of an additional 20km/h. So little wonder why few, if any, care about the zebra crossings. It has gotten to the point when pedestrians are actually surprised that our little Mini actually stopped for them at the crossing, and just today, a pedestrian actually waved for me to go first! Maybe I am not supposed to stop. I’ll figure this out.

5. ‘No-Address’ System
If you haven’t already realized, everything that is posted to the UAE is sent to a P.O. Box. This country somehow found a way to function without a proper address system (there is a system in the works, but wow, it's already 2014!) Even when you order tens of thousands of dirhams worth of furniture, the instruction is just to just send it to Abu Dhabi, ABC Building, Apartment 1234. Likewise when driving, one has to rely on road intersections (which I have yet to master) and more importantly, landmarks (e.g. “opposite or next to ABC Building”). That’s when my fellow passenger’s eyes come in handy – she keeps her radar wide and open when we approach our destination. :)

This is also why we have yet to find the elusive Chinese grocer which is somewhere.. at some intersection.. of some roads..

Bonus Round: Ribbon Glory
When we first collected our keys to the car, we were bemused to find our little new car embellished with red ribbon as part of the showroom's delivery protocol:

Final touch ups

And once we are done oohing and aahing and taking pictures, the ribbon is promptly removed. For the next car to be delivered and the next.

Take a photo now and forever hold your peace