Driving in Saudi

Here are my brief (or not-so-brief) thoughts on driving after being in kingdom for 2.5 weeks. Saudi drivers are CUH. RAY. ZEE. It's like Bali...on steroids. Lots of honking, slamming on brakes, etc. There may only be 3 lanes on the freeway but if you can fit 5 cars across then it's really 5 lanes...or 6 b/c plenty of cars think the unpaved dirt that runs along the freeway counts as a lane as well. Wanna make a left turn from the right-most lane?? Sure, why not! Pull into oncoming traffic? You bet! Use a turn signal? No way...keep 'em guessing! Obeying traffic laws are totally optional. In fact, at one point Saudi Arabia had the highest rate of traffic-related deaths in the world. (That was 7-8 years ago I believe, now they're ranked 20th.) This is why most expats here buy the biggest, sturdiest car they can get. Brian bought us a Suburban- it's so massive it's kind of a workout getting in/out of the car.

Side note: The process of buying a car is a huge pain. Brian first had to apply for his visa. Once the visa is granted, he was able to apply for a driver's license. You think the DMV in the states is bad? It took Brian over 4 visits! Then he had to go to the dealership and negotiate a price. Then we had to wire money from our US bank accounts to our Saudi account. Then Brian had to get proof of insurance (that's a requirement here b/c they'll let you have the vehicle). Then the dealership registers the vehicle...and then you can finally take the car home. This process took about a month.

Another side note: B/c the process was taking forever, when they asked Brian what color car he wanted he told them he wanted the one that was in stock, at the dealership. It's a brown color. The kids think our car looks like a big piece of poop...what do you think? I guess we could nickname it the Big Turd??? (This pic was intentionally taken off-center so you can see a little bit of our front yard- some grass and a palm tree!)


So, I'm kind of glad women aren't allowed to drive in KSA. I can, however, drive inside the camp. And camp driving is the opposite of typical Saudi driving off camp. Brian's company expects its employees & family members to follow ALL traffic rules. Park inside the lines- no tires can touch any part of the lines. No speeding...don't even risk going the exact speed limit. Come to a complete stop 2-3 ft before the stop line. Use your turn signals. There are traffic cameras in camp. There are police that are very good at patrolling and issuing tickets...I see them everywhere! If you get a ticket, you are heavily fined...keep getting tickets and it's grounds for termination. It's very serious. So everyone really does follow all of the rules. The highest speed limit is 65 km/hr (40 miles/hr). So the fastest I've driven since moving to Saudi is 64 km/hr. Seriously. Sometimes I feel like we're moving in slow motion!