Legal disclaimer: I have no idea how any of the cars pictured crashed. I wasn't there, never saw it, only came across them as I was driving by. They may well have been innocent victims of someone else's stupidity. Maybe.
Anyway, a while back, before I had my own ride, I was taking a taxi home. The driver from India was telling me about how crazy the roads can get at night, especially the roundabouts.
Apparently, it's good fun here to drive in circles as fast as you can. My driver says he once saw a Toyota Land Cruiser going so fast in a roundabout that it rose up on its outside wheels.
"What about the police?" I asked.
"Police coming," the man said. "Only watching."
There seems to be two main types of crashes in Doha, both speed related.
The first goes like this... traffic stops suddenly in front of Motorhead A, who slams on the brakes too late and rams into the poor suck in front of him. Happens all the time.The second is a bit of a wild ride. I imagine it going like this... Motorhead B is screaming down the straightaway at 150+ km/h when suddenly a roundabout appears, and it's closing fast, too fast. Our speed demon tries to slow and make the sharp turn, runs out of road and hops the curb in his $130,000 dream machine.
(Holy Hanna that must scare the living shit out of a driver.)The close-up of the silver Maserati (above, right), a GrandTurismo I think, shows what happens to the front end when it encounters the curb at speed. The exact circumstances of this fella's crash are unclear to me, but a casual look at the scene near my apartment suggests the dude came into the roundabout hot, catapulted over the curb and ground to a stop in the sand about 50-70 feet from where he left the road. Frontend demolished.
The very next day, a second Maserati (right)... circumstances less clear, results the same: a seriously messed up luxury car.
(Body shops must make a mint here.)
Well, at least the Qataris are beginning to notice. About a month ago I took in a movie at City Centre. The last ad the theatre ran before the movie started was a public service announcement in Arabic. Its delivery was awful but it had the right idea. The ad focused on a guy in his 20s, flipping through a photo album as I recall. He's reminiscing about his friend, who we learn at the end has died in a car crash.
I'd say driving here is a bit like smoking was in North America in the 1960s. It can kill you, and people here don't seem to realise it. Or maybe it's just boys beings boys, only with really expensive toys, and a lot more at stake than they seem to care to admit.
 |
| What happens Thursday nights (above) |
 |
| Also a victim of Thursday night |
