Found myself sitting in the car waiting for my friend to finish her business and was casually watching cars going by...when I realized it was a golden opportunity to do a quick survey on the average driving activities of citizens of Hidd/Arad. I was parked in a prime location for it too...in a parking lot next to the road...so customers of Midway have to slow down to turn or wait for other motorists to get out of the way...so I could get a fairly good luck at the Occupational Hazards operating a vehicle without thought or reason...believe me...after you see some of these "statistics" you will agree with that statement.
Now this was all done without too much thought and preparation...so take it all with a grain of salt...and of course accuracy was not totally possible as a clear view was not always available and nationality is not always apparent just by looking at the face....but heres what I came away with.
I made a few quick columns...one for apparent nationality, seatbelt or not, talking on phone or not, child not in seatbelted etc, and one for general things like doing something else while driving.
I "surveyed" about 120 while I waited...this is what I got(remember accuracy isnt exact)
From 120 cars(there abouts)
1. At least 98 drivers would appear to be Bahraini...8 were asian...4 European(British?) 10 drivers unknown just by looking.
2. 114 drivers were not wearing seatbelts that I could determine. All 4 European were...2 of the Asian drivers were.
3. 32 people were talking on a mobile. All Bahrainis as far as I could determine.
4. 53 cars had children in them...all 53 cars had children either standing, jumping around, or sitting in either the front passengers lap or, in 3 occassions, in the drivers lap. One car had two children sitting in the windows of the car. One Bahraini father made all categories...believe this...he was not wearing a seatbelt...he was talking on the phone...and he had a child in his lap...not to mention two more jumping in the back seat. Once again, all these drivers were apparently Bahrainis.
5. In 74 cars I was able to observe the driver doing something that could possibly distract him or her from driving properly...such as reaching for something...looking in the visor mirror...turning the head and looking at persons in the back seat...eating and in two instances trying to read something. This does not include those on mobiles. 65 of these drivers were apparently Bahraini...the others were a mix of either the Asians or Unknowns.
This does not include the 4 near accidents that occurred for whatever reasons...I wasnt watching those drivers at that time so not sure what was going on. Not to mention the speed some of these drivers were going considering this was a a very congested area that needed caution and a soft touch on the accelerator.
Somebody else can do the math on these "statistics" but at a glance its obvious people are not to concerned with obeying traffic laws...the ones with apparently little concern for their children should be openly faced with this fact...the strange thing about all this was that there was a traffic cop right across the road writing up some report or another...not paying the least attention to the high number of traffic violations going on right under his nose. He didnt even stir at the heartbeat skipping squeal of brakes that accompanied the almost accidents. Hmmmm?
I was actually considering taking pics while I was sitting there...but I thought that might irk some people when they actually realized what I was doing...people are so touchy when you point out the Mindless Idiot living within them. I know what your thinking...Im not better than them...Ive got one in me too no doubt...Im fully aware of this fact...but I try not to let mine come out and play while Im driving...call me old fashion but I prefer to believe children learn from their parents...if I want my kids to be responsible drivers...Ive got to walk the walk...right?
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