Recently the news of the Patel family crash came in the papers. The Patels, an Indian family of four, were taking a U-Turn on Al Khawaneej Road when their car was hit by a speeding national (4WD, 150kph). Both cars burst into flames and the whole Patel family died on the spot.
The son, Mohammad Ali Patel, was a Grade 7 student of my school. I was shocked to here the news. I had heard of so many deaths on Dubai's Roads, but now it really hit me. Someone I had been close to, someone I had seen, had become a victim of Dubai's roads. Suddenly I felt the real danger out there.
After hearing this news, I wondered how his friends at school must be feeling. I wondered how it must be for them to just have one of their friends disappear. Then I thought how it could happen to me.
All this while I had looked at the road statistics, but then they were just numbers. Now they were real people. They could even be people I knew. I thought how I would feel if I lost one of my friends to a car crash, which was entirely possible. I thought of them driving around Dubai in their small cars with all those mad drivers around them. It was like seeing a close friend being dropped into a tank full of sharks.
For now I pray that Mohammad Ali rests in peace. He was only 12. He had many ambitions. All that is gone because of a car crash. In seconds, the whole family has vanished from this world.
His young sister Sanaa , who was only nine, also died in the accident. I wonder how it must be for her friends.
I pray that it never happens to me.
The Gulf News article on the crash is at http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/10/27/10077798.html. The National who hit the Patels suffered severe burns and is undergoing treatment, though we can all guess what kind of punishment he will get.
Nachhaltiger Ökotourismus in den VAE
3 days ago
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4 comments:
It was a very unfortunate accident. 9 times out of 10 the newspaper reports are vague in nature, just as this one is. What exactly happened at the U-turn? Who slammed whom first and the nature of the accident could be very helpful in preventing further accidents of such nature, even freak accidents. It's a well known fact that there are certain areas where the usual kind of city driving will not do, especially on highways. The authorities need to highlight the differences and caution people to be extra careful on highways.
May the family rest in peace.
If my memory serves correctly, virtually the exact same accident happened in the early 90s. Then too it was a local, but it was two Sri Lankan families who were crammed in the unfortunate car. Only the driver survived.
How little we have learned since then.
Sanaa was in my sister's class at school. My sister was pretty upset by the whole thing, but I can't even begin to imagine what their family and friends must be going through.
In Canada if you are at fault you are charged with 2nd degree murder in traffic accidents.
why..because you are driving a vehicle that wieghs over a ton and it is lethal. no driving safely is considered criminal in Canada.
The Emiratis in general never drive consideratly. And now i see Emirati women driving, never looking left or right to check who is coming, just stepping on the GAS pedal and forcing their RIGHT as an EMIRATI to push you off the road.
For the PATEL family to be killed in such a violent firely crash we can ASSUME quite safely that the other driver was at excessive speeds.
The UAE will never be anything until they force the law equally.
I am sick and tired of fearing for my life whenever i see an EMIRATI in a LARGE HUMMER or 4WD zooming up behind me and flashing their highbeam lights for me to get out of their way or be crushed.
There are no laws that say SPEEDING cars have the right of way. This would be sick.
Why doesn't the government address this problem
I have yet to encounter a Canadian driver try to RUN me off the road at excessive speeds. Only GULF residence.
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