Opinion

Don't laugh at us!

June 06, 2018
Don't laugh at us!

Samar Al-Mogren



Al-Jazirah newspaper

I DO not usually accept all jokes at all times. Not any joke will make me laugh at any time. These include the wave of sarcastic jokes on the social media against women driving.

These jokes laugh at women driving and said the women will be a major cause of traffic accidents and therefore a main cause of death.

In fact when we look at official statistics we get a different story. The General Authority of Statistics (GaStat) said were more than 460,000 traffic accidents last year which caused serious injuries to more than 33,000 people and resulted in the death of 7,489 others. Women were not driving at that time!

I am not pessimistic because the statistics speak about a drop in the number of traffic accidents in the first half of this year.

On the contrary I am very optimistic that when women start driving on June 24 there will be a further drop in the number of traffic accidents.

The women will take the wheel when they are qualified and well trained. They will have gone through training programs according to intentional standards.

Those who laugh at women driving are mostly young men who started driving when they were teenagers.

These young men were driving cars when they were still wearing shorts. They had never had any formal education or training on driving. They cannot even differentiate between the warning and the guiding traffic signs.

Though they have no formal driving training and that they are not qualified drivers, yext they are laughing now at women driving. They mock women drivers even before they see them actually on the streets.

I am sure that these young men will change their attitudes toward women driving when they come to realize that that they are really good drivers.

Women will teach everyone that driving is an art, fine taste and ethics. This is the message the women will deliver beginning June 24.

Just for information, many countries charge women half the price when they come to ensure their cars. They know that women are good drivers and they cause less accidents.

The position of these insurance companies toward women drivers is a positive one which I hope will be adopted by the insurance companies in our country.

I have read some reports that said our insurance companies will charge women insurers more because their insurance polices will include other extra services such as fixing the car or towing it away.

I hope that these services will not be obligatory on women and will be optional for both men and women.

The royal decree which enables women to drive from Shawwal 10 clearly said that the traffic rules and regulations will be applied on "men and women on equal footing".

I hope that the insurance companies will not charge women more and that the young drivers will not laugh at us.


June 06, 2018
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