Dubai: Oh UAE traffic. It isn’t just reserved for the Sharjah-Dubai road. Traffic can be found almost anywhere in the UAE if just one inept person makes it possible. All it takes is for someone to break and cause a butterfly effect.
We just can’t take it anymore.
We understand that traffic congestion is caused by a number of factors, such as roads that are poorly designed or over-capacity.
I.e.: lots of people driving from Sharjah to Dubai in the morning, or Dubai to Sharjah in the evening. The sheer amount of drivers causes this traffic naturally. But the way people drive and think (or lack thereof) plays an immense role in causing traffic. If everyone behaved and followed the rules properly, things could be very different.
Here are the things people driving in the UAE need to stop doing on the roads.
1. Rubbernecking
The absolute worst.
“I once faced the most intense traffic on my way out and it wasn’t peak time at all. I knew it had to be an accident. Turns out, the accident was on the other side of the road. Not even on my way, but on the road heading to the other direction. It was people breaking to look at the accident, causing major delays back on my end,” said Mariam, an Emirati living in Sharjah.
People need to stop rubbernecking. Ok we get it. It’s human nature to be interested in an accident. But guess what? You’re an inconvenience to everyone. Stop causing traffic and just look ahead of you and drive. Please. And thank you.
2. Driving slow in the fast lane
Nobody likes you.
“I would definitely categorize my driving as more on the fast side. I've only been in one accident my whole life, and the reason was because a slow driver thought it was appropriate to cut in front of me because they wanted to go in the fast lane, so we collided. I've been in several "almost" accidents and they are always, always, because someone decided they wanted to get in my lane at half my speed. I don’t think speeding drivers are the problem. I think it is the slow drivers,” Hiba told Gulf News.
The left lanes are reserved for those brave souls, who drive as fast as the speed limit. It may not be the safest mode of transportation, but sometimes you to need to get somewhere fast. Don’t be the person who slows everyone down. If you choose to drive there, then speed up.
3. Phantom traffic jams
Why are you the way that you are?
You are thinking to yourself. 'There must be an accident, or construction or something! But you just keep on driving and driving and driving, but there is nothing there. These are called phantom traffic jams. An MIT professor explained this phenomenon in a Live Science article once. “Phantom traffic jams are an emergent property of the flow of vehicles down a highway. A phantom jam begins when a car in dense traffic slows down even slightly, which causes the car behind that vehicle to slow even more — and the slowing action spreads backward through the lane of traffic like a wave, getting worse the farther it spreads.”
4. Having an ego
Calm down and let go of your frustrations
For some reason, people don’t like feeling that someone is faster than them. They don’t like moving out of the way to make room for someone. They don’t like someone else being “more important”. If someone is on the left lane and would like to drive faster than you, LET THEM. You shouldn't force someone to match your speed alone. If you're already driving at the maximum speed, that still doesn't entitle you to block the faster driver because:
1. Your speedometer could be completely different from this person's. My friend's speedometer is off by a whole 10km/hr. Her speedometer says 140km/hr when she's actually driving at 128km/hr.
2. This person might have an emergency. The fact is you have no idea what is going on in this person's life and cannot in any circumstance determine if the person is speeding for fun or if there is a serious emergency. Again, it is not your job to determine.
3. If this person wants to over speed and get speeding fines, that is not your concern. This is the police's job, and you shouldn't be the one deciding on behalf of them.
5. Failing to use your indicator
You just might kill me
"I use my indicator even when the road is empty. I just get so annoyed when people don't indicate when they are driving," said Ahmed to Gulf News.
Using your indicator is extreemly important. You need to remember that no one has the human capacity to read minds. No one expects you to take a left, right or change lanes. So please, for the love of god, use your indicator.
6. Generally breaking traffic rules
Please, just don't
Don’t text while driving, you could die or kill someone else.
Don’t over speed, you could die or kill someone.
Don’t viciously cut in front of another car, you could die or kill someone.
Basically, stop breaking the rules. Focus on driving, be courteous, use your indicators and your logic. Let’s all work together to try and decrease the amount of fatalities on the road in the UAE.
If you have any more driving pet peeves in the UAE, please send us a tweet at @Gulf_News
