Muhammad Sulaiman Al-Ehaidib
Okaz
Twenty people die every day, or around 7,100 a year, a fatality ratio of 23 deaths every 100,000 people. Over 39,000 people are injured every year, many of whom end up with permanent disabilities. These figures are not war casualties; they are the Kingdom’s fatalities from road accidents in a single year.
Dr. Eid Al-Yahya, a Saudi researcher and writer who also presents a TV show on Al-Arabiya channel, made an interesting comparison between vehicles and camels. He said, in a beautiful and moving Qassimi dialect, Saudis love to boast about their vehicles, which cause their death on the road. The graves are full of people who have lost their souls on the road.
He also compared the driver’s psychological state and his boasting about his car. Arabs take pride in their camels and love to ride them, and so do today’s drivers; they love their cars and assume that they can drive fast, pull off dangerous maneuvers and that the vehicles will not hurt them.
I liked the comparison but I would add what some might view as a strange, yet bitter truth. I worked in an emergency room for four years doing night shifts. I noticed that the young men who were admitted to the ER following accidents, some of which were horrific, were crying like babies.
Most of them were engaged in dangerous practices on the road and highways and were trying to show that they were fearless men. When they got hurt and had fractures or contusions, they were admitted to the ER while crying and moaning like fearful rabbits. They did not show any signs of manhood. I would say that pregnant women who suffer the pains of labor and delivery are more courageous than those young men, because they took the pain of delivery while not screaming out loud.
My question is: why do those young men involve themselves in dangerous stunts as a sign of manhood and then when they get injured in accidents, cry like babies and do not take it like men?
