Let children use the school bus safely
My daughter uses the school bus every day, and each day I see several cars overtaking the bus when it is stopped and some even honk (‘Cameras on school bus stop arms soon’, Gulf News, April 26). Why? There are children as small as three years old trying to get on or off. Surely you can spare them a couple of minutes to get on or off the bus safely. The whole scene makes me so angry. I see that several of the drivers have children in the car, so obviously they understand how slow children can be sometimes. I wonder if they think that their child’s safety is more important than those of the children on the bus.
The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) should make overtaking a stopped bus a payable fine. Perhaps then people will think twice.
From Ms Nadia Abdul Aziz
UAE
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Puzzling situation
I don’t normally find myself stopped behind a bus, but this happened to me recently and it was a very confusing moment. The stop sign was out and the children got off the bus. The bus stayed there for a while longer with the sign out. I waited patiently, but then the bus driver stuck his hand out and waved at me to go past. Even though the driver was telling me not to obey the fact that he had the sign out, I still waited for him to turn off the signal. Maybe there weren’t any children to wait for, but I’m not sure that a police officer would understand this explanation if I was seen breaking this law.
From Ms Jennifer Whittaker
Dubai
No patience
A lot of the drivers don’t have the patience to wait behind school buses. The authorities should implement very strict rules for this.
From Mr Theja Chandar
Dubai
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Can they stop anywhere?
I don’t have much knowledge about this rule. If these buses have the right to stop anywhere on the road, then other drivers should obey.
From Mr Erik K.
Dubai
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Waiting for parents
When I read this article about school buses, I fully agreed with the writer of the article. However, if I may draw attention to the fact that some school buses put their stop signs on while waiting for parents to come down from their flats and pick up their children. That waiting period lasts more than five minutes on some occasions and causes a traffic jams.
From Mr Joe Nehme
UAE
Implement strictly
This needs to be mandatory by law and implemented strictly. The other day when my daughter and the other children were crossing the road, a taxi driver just ignored the stop sign and drove by, overtaking the school bus. The children had to immediately wait there in order to avoid being hit. It needs to be implemented strictly.
From Mr Arati Satish Krishnamurthy
UAE
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Drivers need to care
RTA should check the school bus drivers as well. They don’t always stay in their lane and they stop wherever they want to stop. They don’t care about traffic.
From Mr Abdur Rahman
UAE
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Reading makes me happy
Reading has been a habit of mine since childhood (‘Why we read: authors on the power of literature’, Gulf News, April 26). This was transferred in my genes through my father and my mother, too. Books has taught me the difference between right and wrong. Reading has made me humble. I have read fiction for some time, but it never impressed me so I stopped reading it. Reading is like an addiction for me. I have learnt from my father how to select the right book for reading. I am the happiest person on this planet.
From Ms Syeda Ahmad
UAE
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Don’t take vacations
My family stopped going on vacation four years ago (‘Average UAE resident spends Dh8,174 a year on travel’, Gulf News, April 26). Now, we work 12 months a year and we enjoy the weekends. Friday is booked for sleeping and Saturday is booked for a family gathering and a nice meal outside.
From Mr Osman Iqbal
Dubai
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A wise measure
Saudi Arabia’s push to live without oil is because all the developed countries are spending billions to switch to renewable energy and soon they will put a quota on oil imports and oil exports (‘Saudi Arabia to live ‘without oil’, Gulf News, April 26). Since the over use of oil and gas is the main reason behind global warming, countries are going green. Saudi Arabia needs to adapt and evolve to the situation and that is why they are spending billions to switch from oil as soon as possible.
From Mr Irfan Khan
Toronto, Canada
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Investing in other countries
Saudi Arabia is looking for investments elsewhere in the world. One of the countries they are investing into is Malaysia! Thanks to their good intentions, I believe that this is why our ringgit is strengthening.
From Mr Mohammad Razif Bin Omar
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
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No body doubles and retakes
Personal likes and dislikes should not colour a person’s decision making ability to such an extent that it becomes difficult to recognise simple logic (‘Salman as envoy to Olympics draws mixed response’, Gulf News, April 26). It is amazing to see people justify the selection of Salman Khan as the brand ambassador for the Olympics. So what is next? An actor who has played a role of a doctor in a movie being invited to be a keynote speaker in a world health conference? It is also extremely disheartening for the sportsmen and sportswomen who probably put their entire life into the realisation of the dream of standing on the awards podium and giving out those medals. Yet, many of them leave the world in oblivion at the fag end of their life.
People in general are responsible as well. Look how people fall over each other to see an actor when he is in town and how costly tickets exchange hands when there is an entertainment program involving celebrities from the silver screen. Look how people rush to spend money every week to watch movies. But movies are nothing but a concoction of lies. Now lying has become an art. I, for one, have stopped going to the theatre.
Remove those body doubles, those camera tricks, those unseen harnesses, those technology gimmicks and we will know for real who are the heroes. The Olympics is a serious matter with no body doubles or retakes. Treat it that way and honour the people in their deserved places.
From Mr Arish Ehsan
UAE
All for publicity
There is absolutely no doubt that the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) selection of Khan as the Indian Olympic Goodwill Ambassador is a real shocker. Of course, cricketer Gautam Gambir or shooter Abhinav Bindra could have been a better choice. However, I feel the senior most Olympians like Milkha Singh or P. T. Usha, who missed a medal by a whisker, should be chosen. I feel this time our contingents have ample opportunity to win more medals than in the previous Olympics. If that happens, it would be nice if the credit goes to the athletes and its associations, rather than to a man, who doesn’t do sports! It is unfortunate that our sports associations are running after film personalities for their publicity!
From Ms Janaki Mahadevan
Mylapore, India
Making a bad name
Americans think that interfering everywhere is their divine right and this has made them internationally alone (‘Obama faces backlash after Brexit warning’, Gulf News, April 24). Now everywhere people don’t like them for this attitude and they don’t want to listen them. Millions of good people are living in the US, but their politicians have put their lives in danger because of their interference.
From Mr Kausar Shah Gailani
UAE
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Driving their own interests
It was much better for US President Barack Obama to avoid this latest unproductive interference. They pretend to drive situations all over the world for their interests and we can see the results. In Europe, we have a lot to ‘thank’ him for, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
From Mr Carlo Bini
UAE
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