Something I realised the other day I have become used to here in Doha... but is not "normal" in other places I have lived, is the need to hand over your ID when you go to visit friends.
Not everyone here lives in a compound, but a large majority of wester expats do, and many in quite secure ones. You drive up to a gate (sometimes after driving a zig zag course through large concrete blocks) and hand over your ID to get in.
Then you wait.
You wait for either the boom gate to go up, the gate to open, or the crash barrier to go down, or any combination of the three before you can go in !
Occasionally you don't have to hand over your id if your host has provided a printed list of everyone who is visiting (eg for a party).
Handing over your ID doesn't just apply at compounds, but at some public venues too. We like to go to the Doha Debates at Education City and you always have to hand over your ID and get a pass to get inside. You actually get in pretty quickly, but leaving can be a different matter. You all leave an event at once and everybody has to queue up to get their ID back on the way out.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
"Freak" accidents
Following are a few photos from the Peninsula newspaper here in Doha.
Normally these are listed as freak accidents - but they are really due to reckless driving! It just seems people prefer to think that it was due to a freak of nature rather than something they caused.
This first one is on a road I travel on several times a day!
Normally these are listed as freak accidents - but they are really due to reckless driving! It just seems people prefer to think that it was due to a freak of nature rather than something they caused.
This first one is on a road I travel on several times a day!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The sea of blue
The other thing that was new to me here in Qatar, is really understanding and seeing the meaning of blue-collar workers.
The vast majority of work men here (and they are all men) are dressed in blue overalls. The construction workers, gardners, maintenance men, petrol station attendants are all in long sleeve all in one blue overalls. If they are out in the sun, add to that a t-shirt or scarf on their head (as many don't seem to be provided with hats) as wells as scarves wrapped over their face and sunglasses applied over the top. You can see as much of them as the women in their abayas and niqabs.
Because of the huge amount of construction going on here, there is a large percentage of imported labour and the result is a male to female ratio of almost 3 to 1...
The vast majority of work men here (and they are all men) are dressed in blue overalls. The construction workers, gardners, maintenance men, petrol station attendants are all in long sleeve all in one blue overalls. If they are out in the sun, add to that a t-shirt or scarf on their head (as many don't seem to be provided with hats) as wells as scarves wrapped over their face and sunglasses applied over the top. You can see as much of them as the women in their abayas and niqabs.
Because of the huge amount of construction going on here, there is a large percentage of imported labour and the result is a male to female ratio of almost 3 to 1...
The heat.... burns your legs...
I don't think I have mentioned the heat recently. After a cold winter (about 8 weeks of sweater weather with several days of rain, and a freezing house as floors all tiles and no central heating) the weather warmed up gradually.
But now it is HOT! 40 degrees Celcius + everyday. Today is 48.
Everything is air-conditioned so you aren't really feeling it too much, but when it is school pickup time the heat hits hard. The worst I find is when the children are getting into the car and you are making sure everyone is buckled up. I am left standing on the street and the heat from the sun combined with the heat radiating from the road is just unbelievable. There are times when it actually feels like my legs are burning.
But I shouldn't complain. I have it easy compared to so many of the workers here who have to work out in the heat all day long. There has been a few articles in the paper highlighting a gov't policy that says during this heat manual laborers are supposed to be rested between 12:30 and 4:30 pm - but showed pictures of people still out working in the full sun. It is true to say that the heat and conditions are extreme!
But now it is HOT! 40 degrees Celcius + everyday. Today is 48.
Everything is air-conditioned so you aren't really feeling it too much, but when it is school pickup time the heat hits hard. The worst I find is when the children are getting into the car and you are making sure everyone is buckled up. I am left standing on the street and the heat from the sun combined with the heat radiating from the road is just unbelievable. There are times when it actually feels like my legs are burning.
But I shouldn't complain. I have it easy compared to so many of the workers here who have to work out in the heat all day long. There has been a few articles in the paper highlighting a gov't policy that says during this heat manual laborers are supposed to be rested between 12:30 and 4:30 pm - but showed pictures of people still out working in the full sun. It is true to say that the heat and conditions are extreme!
Friday, June 20, 2008
So many things wrong
For all my gripes about the driving here, I have always been grateful that alcohol is not part of the mix. The drivers are crazy enough without adding alcohol.
There is a zero tolerance here - no alcohol allowed in the system at all. If you are an expat and you are caught driving and your blood shows alcohol in it - you are deported.
Fortunately taxis are cheap here, so most people if they are going out and know they are going to be drinking just catch a cab home.
But read below what happens if you are a local.... with a track record of drunk driving ... and you kill 3 people.... Also note at the end how the women are worth 1/2 that of men in compensation...
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I wish the article would have laid out what the new maximum penalties are. They mention new traffic laws - but don't lay out what impact that would have had on his conviction.
There is a zero tolerance here - no alcohol allowed in the system at all. If you are an expat and you are caught driving and your blood shows alcohol in it - you are deported.
Fortunately taxis are cheap here, so most people if they are going out and know they are going to be drinking just catch a cab home.
But read below what happens if you are a local.... with a track record of drunk driving ... and you kill 3 people.... Also note at the end how the women are worth 1/2 that of men in compensation...
Death crash driver jailed for 9 months in absentia
Published: Thursday, 19 June, 2008, 02:08 AM Doha Time
By Nour Abuzant
A DRINK-DRIVER who killed three people after jumping a red light has been sentenced to nine months in jail.
A court heard the victims were two local women – one of whom was six months pregnant – and their Indian driver.
The killer driver – named Shafi Ali – did not appear in court to hear the verdict.
Sentencing him in absentia, the judge ordered Ali serve three months in prison for the traffic violation and six months for drinking. He was fined QR6,000 for driving under the influence of alcohol and had his licence suspended for six months.
He was also ordered to pay blood money totalling QR300,000 plus an extra QR15,000 for the death of the embryo.
As the fatal crash took place before the new traffic law came into force the judge had imposed the maximum penalty at his disposal.
He revealed that Ali, a Qatari national in his 20s, had 13 previous convictions, including six alcohol-related incidents, bounced cheques and an escape from legal detention.
The judge noted that he had been lashed and jailed for the previous offences – none of which had served as any future deterrent.
The fatal accident occurred on May 4 last year after Ali drove from his home in Manaseer to a car wash in Waab. He admitted to police that he had been drinking beer at home before he left, and as he approached a set of traffic lights close to the Hyatt Plaza, they changed to red and he kept on driving – causing an on-coming vehicle to swerve into the car carrying the three victims. Medical tests proved he was drunk.
Ali suffered only slight injuries in the accident. A 26-year-old pregnant woman, her 35-year-old friend and their 23-year-old driver all died.
Delivering its verdict, the court ordered both Ali and an insurance company to share the blood money payment of QR75,000 to each of the families of the two women and QR150,000 to the driver’s relatives.
The court described Ali as “a negligent youth who allowed himself to drive under the influence of alcohol therefore endangering the lives of innocent people”. It added that his rich criminal record reiterated his carelessness.
Gulf Times Newspaper, 2008 ©
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=225303&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56
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I wish the article would have laid out what the new maximum penalties are. They mention new traffic laws - but don't lay out what impact that would have had on his conviction.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Fascinating, thought provoking talk
One of the amazing things about living here, is who passes through town and how easy it is to get into events.
Tonight I went to a talk sponsored by the Centre for Regional and International Studies at Georgetown University in Qatar - and we heard John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt talk on their book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.
They spoke for an hour and then they took questions for an hour. It was just amazing. I had seen an ad for the talk in the paper and called to see if I could attend. That same day there was a Christian Science Monitor editorial on these guys and their book.
The talk was really thought provoking - if you haven't heard / read about them, I would suggest you do!
Tonight I went to a talk sponsored by the Centre for Regional and International Studies at Georgetown University in Qatar - and we heard John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt talk on their book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.
They spoke for an hour and then they took questions for an hour. It was just amazing. I had seen an ad for the talk in the paper and called to see if I could attend. That same day there was a Christian Science Monitor editorial on these guys and their book.
The talk was really thought provoking - if you haven't heard / read about them, I would suggest you do!
Dangerous driving
Further to my previous note on driving with a cell phone, we had visitors from the UK. And in the five days that they were here, they saw a major accident on the road everyday.
It is amazing how commonplace it is here. I have seen two today! Both with fairly significant car damage.
When I took my kids over Easter holidays to visit the UK, my 6 year old son commented on how calm the traffic was and how he didn't see any wrecked cars...
In the paper the other day it mentioned a case of a 20 year old local driver who drove up behind a car at 140kph in an 80 zone, flashing his lights for the other car to move, but there was no where for him to move. When he finally did move to the right (between two trucks) the local driver followed, ramming into the other car, which smashed it into the truck in front killing the passenger immediately and seriously injuring the driver, who had to be airlifted to hospital.
The local driver has pleaded not guilty. From the article it appeared the the driver probably wouldn't be sentenced, but would be required to pay "blood money".
While the road campaigns to improve driving here has helped, there are still to many drivers, in big Land Cruisers, who just ignore the traffic situation they are in. I am not a slow driver, but I adjust to the conditions around me. These drivers don't.
It is amazing how commonplace it is here. I have seen two today! Both with fairly significant car damage.
When I took my kids over Easter holidays to visit the UK, my 6 year old son commented on how calm the traffic was and how he didn't see any wrecked cars...
In the paper the other day it mentioned a case of a 20 year old local driver who drove up behind a car at 140kph in an 80 zone, flashing his lights for the other car to move, but there was no where for him to move. When he finally did move to the right (between two trucks) the local driver followed, ramming into the other car, which smashed it into the truck in front killing the passenger immediately and seriously injuring the driver, who had to be airlifted to hospital.
The local driver has pleaded not guilty. From the article it appeared the the driver probably wouldn't be sentenced, but would be required to pay "blood money".
While the road campaigns to improve driving here has helped, there are still to many drivers, in big Land Cruisers, who just ignore the traffic situation they are in. I am not a slow driver, but I adjust to the conditions around me. These drivers don't.
Why can't you bluetooth
One of the things that annoys me here is how so many drivers drive holding a cell phone. If you are wealthy enough to be driving a maserati, certainly you can afford to buy a headset, or even better, a bluetooth speaker system for your car!
I had a wired system in my car (in the pre-bluetooth days) and now have bluetooth and it is just so much safer. You just press one button and everything else can pretty much be done by voice commands.
So instead of either roaring up the road at 140kph in an 80 zone, or doing 60kph in an 80 zone with only one hand on the wheel and your attention not on those around you... PLEASE get bluetooth - or at least some sort of hands free kit.
I had a wired system in my car (in the pre-bluetooth days) and now have bluetooth and it is just so much safer. You just press one button and everything else can pretty much be done by voice commands.
So instead of either roaring up the road at 140kph in an 80 zone, or doing 60kph in an 80 zone with only one hand on the wheel and your attention not on those around you... PLEASE get bluetooth - or at least some sort of hands free kit.
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