Driving While Drunk

You would think that in a country where the consumption of liquor is illegal, drunk driving won’t be a problem to deal with, but Molouk Ba-Isa got some news for you. She, like many who live near King Fahd Causeway, aka the Johnny Walker Bridge, is complaining that they have to deal with impaired drivers every weekend, and it gets much worse during the Eid week every year.

king_fahd_causeway

She goes into the details that I’m not sure if most of you need to know, but here is the money quote: “The problem is a lack of enforcement.” On both sides of the causeway, little is done to prevent the potential dangers of drunk drivers. Sadly, some people don’t know how to celebrate without putting others and themselves in danger.

14 thoughts on “Driving While Drunk

  1. I recall during the construction of the causeway there was a joke that it would make itself redundant. Saudis returning to Al-Khobar would be tossing their bottles overboard before they hit the border. In time, the empties would create another, parallel causeway at no expense to the governments!

    But drunk driving is criminally stupid, no matter where it happens. I like the way some Scandinavian countries pull a drunk driver’s license for life.

  2. Ahmed, drunken drivers , everywhere, are potential killers. No matter where they live, no matter their age, no matter their nationality. They are a ‘sect’ apart from all people- and should be addressed that way: everybody drunk behind a steering wheel has to get the maximum jailsentence possible. Personally I know of a family that was totally erased from the face of the earth (in the Netherlands) and I would like to CRY out: those people are KILLERS, MURDERERS.

  3. I suspect part of the problem is lack of education: in a country where liquor is banned, no one teaches what it means to drink alcohol responsibly, so that in a group of friends at least one person is a teetotaler and will drive the others home.

  4. Same problem in my Middle East country–a lack of education, because education would be seen as “giving permission.”

    Eileen

  5. and the worst part is that when these rich brats r in expensive cars with waaaaay extra horsepower n they speed along my way home
    they NEVER get the blame in an accident [prolly bcuz of wasta]

  6. and you know what, I read in Arab News that the human rights commission is talking about the violations on the KFCauseway. Guess what!!!

    like too much traffic for the poor staff…

    i wonder how does the problem fit itself for the “human rights violations” as generally understood outside the Kingdom.

  7. I’m curious why you didn’t expand on the fact that it is haram to consume alcohol if you practice Islam and/or are Muslim. Why then, are so many Saudi’s sitting at the bar in Trader Vic’s? Doesn’t it seem a bit hypocritical? Just curious…

  8. while not all, but most saudis r hypocrites-===but i dont blame them for it—its their political and religious leader at large which make them live a next 2 impossible rigid yet pious life, with no possibility of worldly enjoyment and entertainment, no normal opposite sex interaction except perhaps their momas or sisters— and they r forced 2 pray five times a day even when they dont feel like doing—they r suppressed 2 da extreme—its no wonder they behave with such hypocrisy.

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