So Abu Dhabi Police is opening a AED 150 million road training facility for kids aged 5 to 17. They get to drive real vehicles (battery-powered up to the age of 12, Minis capable of 40kph for the older ones) on tracks that simulate real-world driving.
Written by: Ahmed Albassum
Apart presumably from the tailgating, the use of the hard shoulder for overtaking, the creative parking that is so easily confused with “abandoning your car”, the apparent absence of turn indicators on most vehicles, and the requirement to wait until speeds exceed the limit before reading or sending any text messages.
The intention is clearly to teach good driving habits as well as to explain the law, and that must be A Good Thing. The track is sophisticated enough to simulate potential road hazards, too, at least for the older kids – slippery roads are mentioned, and anything that helps to improve the UAE driver’s performance in rain or fog is definitely A Very Good Thing.
The problem is the contrast with reality. These carefully taught youngsters filled with good principles and soaked in good practice are going to be competing with drivers who don’t much care for either. They passed their driving test a while ago, they’re happy enough to pay their fines each year (and probably get them discounted too), and they feel they know how to drive in Abu Dhabi. Which, in most cases, won’t be the way they drive in Traffic City.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the youngsters trained by the police on the simulated conditions of Traffic City will be the start of a revolution in driving habits that will see their elders become better, more considerate, more law-abiding drivers.
Perhaps we need a benchmark. The UAE driving test includes a degree of theory – identifying road signs and responding correctly to different driving scenarios. But it isn’t as rigorous as in some other countries, and there is no required conversion course for people who happen to have a driving permit issued in another country – in general the UAE assumes that a driving licence from just about anywhere else qualifies you to drive here, so getting a UAE licence is simply a bureaucratic matter.
That doesn’t cover the grey areas. For instance, running with hazards lights flashing is the norm here to warn other road users of problems like traffic jams or fog; elsewhere hazards should only be used if the vehicle is stationery. Why? Because if you need to change lane you won’t be able to indicate your intentions if your hazard lights are flashing.
That’s a matter of choice: the UAE style prefers the value of the warning to the possible need to advertise a manoeuvre.
But how about traffic lights that are turning from green to orange? What should the driver do? The answer, at least in one official document, is “decrease the speed and cross the junction or be ready to stop”. So you can drive through an orange light but only if you do it slowly enough.
Ah well, maybe the kids can sort it out.
