::sigh::There's always something wrong with our car, huh? Although I will say, with all the care and work we've put into it (new and more powerful engine, new transmission, etc. etc.), it'll end up being better than when we first bought it. :)
Last Sunday, I had the lovely experience, for the first time in my life, of having another vehicle slam into my car. I was going through the Center R/A by Jaidah Flyover; granted, I was in the middle lane and was trying to turn left, but I had my blinker on and I was in front of the van on the left; and the van on the left suddenly and unexpectedly turned to go straight and slammed into my driver's side back door, and then slid up the side of my car, ripping off the side-view mirror before finally stopping its trajectory. Considering it was approximately 7:45 am, I had been fighting through traffic for 20+ minutes just trying to get home from dropping Nick off at ASD, and we were now crashed in the middle of a roundabout, I was not a happy camper.
The police came somewhat promptly, and the situation was also helped by the unfortunate third party involved in the accident, an American named Derek who rear-ended the idiotic van when it suddenly swung into me. Derek was very calm and supportive and seemed to know exactly what to do: "Let's all exchange ID numbers and mobile numbers. Let's write down the police officer's information." Obviously he'd done this before! I guess I should be happy that we've only had one accident involving others in two years here in Doha (knock on wood...). The police officer refused to say who was at fault, saying only that I would have to come to the station that afternoon and get the report. Finally I finished the drive (2 minutes) to get home and felt better after I had duct taped my mirror back onto the side of the door.
Nick was very supportive (as usual, the little bastard!) and as it was just exterior damage, we were hoping it wouldn't be too expensive to repair. (It ended up being only 900 riyals after insurance, and it was fixed up better than new by Kalam's random industrial area garage man!) Of course, we were holding out hope that the van was at fault and thus we wouldn't have to pay anything -- hopes that were dashed when we arrived at the police station to find out that I was, technically, at fault.
As described above, that seemed unfair, as the impact showed that I was ahead of the van, which shouldn't even have been turning straight anyway. So the official brought out "Adil the English Speaker" to come explain the situation to us. We had my HR rep from Georgetown, Hussein, with us, and we all learned something new -- "left is king."
Adil explained that no matter what the left-hand lane does in a roundabout, he has the right-of-way. This means that even though the van hit the back-seat side of my car (indicating that I was ahead of him), it was my fault for not giving him the right of way. I continued to probe this rule with more and more ridiculous scenarios -- what if the van had rear-ended me? what if the van immediately tried to turn right after entering the roundabout in the left lane? -- and each time the answer was, "The left is king." So imagine someone flying into the roundabout from the left side and immediately cutting across the next two lanes to turn right -- you might think that shows obvious fault on his part if you get into an accident with him -- but you would be wrong. As Adil helpfully pointed out, "This is not European Union."
In this country, I see accidents averted every single day by people who, albeit begrudgingly, accommodate each other -- slowing down, swerving, honking, flashing, lane switching, etc. The driver of this van obviously didn't even look -- he just turned directly into my car -- and if he had been at all careful, the accident would have been avoided. Yet it's my fault because the left lane can do whatever it wants to do in this country (the painted left-turn symbol on the road is, apparently, just a suggestion). Hence the public service announcement to all my friends here in Doha, a little-known but quite important traffic rule -- when in the roundabouts, left is king!
5 comments:
Same thing happened to me, the guy just swerved from the left into my car and took off my drivers side mirror and smashed my front quarter panel. Interestingly, I never got the bill for the other car, I'd be interested if you actually ever do.
I spoke to some Qatari friends and they told me that you can often 'win' in these cases (although not always) if the other person hit the REAR half of your car, but you'll always lose if they hit the front.
Crazy? Of course! Welcome to Doha. LOL.
Good to know. Oddly enough, today I blogged about roundabouts myself.....
Hi qatardad - well, there wasn't any damage on the van, so I guess that's why I haven't seen a bill!
The idea that front v. rear impact makes a difference was also told to me by my Georgetown HR rep -- this is why we thought we had a chance at the police station, because clearly the impact was on the rear half of my car. But it turned out not to matter in the slightest -- Adil was very clear about how the left can hit you anywhere and it will always be your fault for not yielding. It's annoying to me because the accident could so easily have been averted if the van's driver was paying attention at all -- but I guess it's hard to prove that sort of thing in traffic court, hence they rely on this ridiculous blanket rule. :)
I think you're daring for driving at all. I'm curious what you think the effect of you being an American woman had on the situation, if any?
Hi Jules - Well, there are plenty of women who drive here (no restrictions), and if anything, usually women get "their way" more than men do. Sadly it didn't work in this case because legally I was in the wrong!
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