Depressingly Familiar

Yet another pedestrian is killed on the roads in Dubai, this time an Aisha Mohammad Ebrahim, a 50-year-old Pakistani.

No doubt there were several factors involved, speed more than likely being one of them. Now I don't know the specifics of this incident to comment on it in particular, but as a more general observation it must be said that not only are the drivers in Dubai pretty daft, the actions of some pedestrians border on suicidal.

Anyone driving in Dubai for more than a day or two has had to slam on the brakes to avoid ploughing into somebody who has stepped out into the road with gay abandon, seemingly oblivious to the approaching traffic. These people seem to fall into two categories: the Stupid and the Arrogant. The Stupid do not even bother looking and step out into the road, normally when crossing a T-junction where they have failed to spot a car turning into the road they are attempting to cross. The Arrogant spot the car, but wander into the road anyway forcing the car to slow down or move over, a tactic which depends on the rather shaky assumption that the driver has spotted them and his brakes are working.

Then you get those who simply cannot judge speed and distance. Having believed they can make it across the road with a pushchair and four kids in tow before an oncoming car reaches them, they break into an ungainly sprint when they realise they have mistimed badly. For this inability to judge speed and distance, I blame a lack of playing cricket in their youth.

There are also those pedestrians who are not actually trying to cross a road, but are simply ambling along the tarmac as if they are on a quiet stroll in the Creek Park. This does not tend to happen on the main roads, but in the still busy minor roads this is all too common. Blaring the horn at such people usually generates a look of surprise as if they had witnessed the Second Coming, and an outrage akin to the wrath a father feels when he reads his teenage daughter's secret diary. It is not unusual for such pedestrians to carry out this bizarre activity at night whilst wearing dark clothing.

The death of Aisha Mohammad Ebrahim is tragic, and should not be trivialised. But any attempts to reduce the numbers of such incidents is going to take a concerted effort to educate pedestrians, not just drivers.