As a friend said when he heard of this, I can now go home. I have done everything there is to do in Doha. I got in a car accident. Around 2 o'clock, Tuesday 26 June, 2007.
Not my fault and fortunately the ticket agrees with that fact. I didn't get the ticket. I was rear ended. My car was the bigger of the two and so won the collision. No one was hurt.
I was getting ready to turn right onto a very busy road. Most turns here are right turns. There are islands running down the middle of most roads to prevent cars from travelling in the lane for oncoming traffic. The drivers here are truly that aggressive. I have had cars heading directly for me on roads without barriers down the middle. And most of the intersections are round abouts. So left turns are rare birds. So are turns onto streets or into round abouts where you are not risking your life. And most people here would rather hit you than yield. And don't get me started about the tailgating here ..... grrrrrrr!!
So I'm stopped waiting to turn right, like any normal person. But apparently I was supposed to just head into the traffic like a crazy Arab driver because that's what the person behind me intended to do, even though I was in front of her.
Collision. She got the worst of it. I felt a jolt in my neck, but nothing serious and it took just a second for the truth to register. I pulled a bit forward and to the side in order to get as much out of the flow of traffic as possible.
The lady who hit me was nice. Not upset or angry. She gets on her mobile phone, I get on mine. Call mom. There's a series of calls. I learn that in order to get my car fixed I have to have a police report. I also learn that I should not move my car at all.
This brings up the only rather odd occurrence. (I mean, besides the accident itself, which isn't all that odd here in Qatar - there's tons of accidents. I don't go a day without seeing a new wreck on the side of the road.) At one point, the lady who hit me says that the police say we should both drive to the police station. She's getting in her car and ready to go. And that strikes me as odd because I was told by two friends I'd called that I shouldn't move. So, a moment of brilliance that should have hit me previously finally does, and I say to the lady, "Ok - I'll follow you, but let me take some pictures first." So I run out to get the pictures you see here, and before I'm even done she says that the police are on their way out to see the accident. I don't know what actually happened. I do not speak Arabic. But it is something that makes me go "hmmm."
See, my dad's been rear ended, and he's the one that ended up with the ticket. In the States there would be no question as to who was at fault. (But then no-fault insurance laws could mess things up--but I digress). But here, I'm a second class citizen because I'm not Qatari. And ideas of "due process" are not exactly fair, at least to American sensibilities. So I was glad that I didn't the ticket.
The lady's husband (I assume) came to help her. There were both very nice. No angry words or even angry looks. In the States, I'd expect angry looks and wouldn't be surprised at angry words, even though it was not my fault. But these Qataris were the definition of civil. I assume they were Qatari by their dress - the abaya and thobe with the head scarf and gutra. My spellings of those words is probably wrong.
Had to go to the police station the next day to get the accident report. A bit of a confusion there because I was told to pay a 300 Qatari Riyal fine. But I had not gotten the ticket, so I couldn't figure out what the fine could be for. After a bit of questioning the policemen there it became clear that the fine was for a speeding ticket my father incurred a few days before I even arrived in the country. But I had to pay the fine anyway. Oh, well.
BTW - that way of collecting on speeding tickets is less effective. The reason for imposing tickets and fines for speeding is to not only punish infractions, but to create safer roads. In order to do that, the imposition of the punishment should be close in time to the commission of the infraction. That way the perpetrator knows when, where and what he or she did wrong and has immediate incentive not to repeat the behavior. The way they do it here is by radar and photographs. But they do not inform the driver of the ticket until he or she gets in an accident or wants to leave the country. A speeding driver could incur thousands in fines and never even know it until months or years later when he finally crashes, maybe even killing someone. It does nothing to immediately improve road safety. It it an effective way to get money. I mean, I had to pay my father's fine.
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