The Roads of Dubai

Life is 100 time better here with a car! Driving is not as bad as I thought it would be although I put on a LOT of extra kilometres because I missed the turn off I wanted, sometimes because I was not paying attention, sometimes the sign didn't leave much time to get into the correct lane (which may or may not be on the right-hand side), sometimes it was simply not marked at all. The problem is not so much the traffic as it is the navigation!

Speed limits on the main roads are generally 100 to 120kph for cars and small vehicles but only 80kph for big trucks and busses on the same roads! The big vehicles generally stay in the right lanes which works fine until ya need to get over to get to an off-ramp. At least once today I missed a turn-off because there were 30 or 40 tanker trucks lined up and blocking the exit I wanted. And when you miss a turn off, it is a major detour to get back! One must always set out with a full tank of gas.

In my travels today I had a couple hairy moments; leaving International City is a one shot deal and while I navigated the round-about fine and was getting on the big highway, the guy on my right was running out of lane. He proceeded to change lanes into the side of me (drivers are just pushy that way.) I would have been OK with that, I would have moved over to the next lane if not for the tanker truck on my left who would not speed up or slow down ... I was sandwiched! I slowed down, let dude on the right get in front of me but when he cleared my way, I realized there was a bus stopped in my lane 150m ahead (ahhhh!) and tanker dude still beside me. I hit the brakes, averted tragedy and continued on. Such is the way it is here.

Later I was zooming my way home and successfully merged onto Sheikh Zayad Road (big freeway that runs through the middle of Dubai); going with the flow of traffic, no problems until the guy in front of me hits his brakes from 120kph down to 40kph ... eeeerrrrrch!!!! He managed to duck over to the next lane but I was stuck behind an SUV driving with his flashers on and 4 flat tires. Luckily everyone behind me slowed down safely but the problem then was getting around the SUV ... I needed to get from 40kph back up to 120 ... Civic just doesn't have that!

But alas, I made it home, detours and all and the mystery of the Dubai roads has been debunked. I will survive.