Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Middle East Driving
or why i am more scared of getting in a car than sitting down at a sidewalk cafe in jerusalem...........
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/433755.html
the driving here is absolutely made for killing. people do not respect lanes, they use the horn as a way of warning others to stop instead of slowing themselves. on any extended journey in israel (all two hours of it) you are bound to see the most bizarre tell tale signs of carnage including over turned cars, vehicles that have crashed into medians, motorists that have crashed into one another because both drivers disrespected the lanes they were traveling in. though the ha'aretz story points to the poor quality of the roads, it also has something to do with the culture here, and psychology of not wanting to be the 'loser' - the 'fri'er' as they say in hebrew. to give an inch is a sign of weakness and cannot be trusted. it is always someone elses fault.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/433755.html
the driving here is absolutely made for killing. people do not respect lanes, they use the horn as a way of warning others to stop instead of slowing themselves. on any extended journey in israel (all two hours of it) you are bound to see the most bizarre tell tale signs of carnage including over turned cars, vehicles that have crashed into medians, motorists that have crashed into one another because both drivers disrespected the lanes they were traveling in. though the ha'aretz story points to the poor quality of the roads, it also has something to do with the culture here, and psychology of not wanting to be the 'loser' - the 'fri'er' as they say in hebrew. to give an inch is a sign of weakness and cannot be trusted. it is always someone elses fault.
// posted by Zevchi @ 5:08 PM 
