Saturday, January 16, 2010

Bloody women drivers! (I'm quoting ok! - well kind of)

I love the way that there is so little political correctness over here. You can say pretty much whatever you like and no one is going to be too bothered if you are being discriminatory about one group or another (unless it is against the Emiratis of course). There are always great examples in the classified ads with flat share requests saying things like "Tamil, muslim, bachelor only" or "Kerala , male only" - not good enough to say Indian only, but which part of India!

Even in formal job advertisements you can say "Filipino female only" or "Arabic speaking Muslim only". It seems so far away from the state of affairs at home where it is now illegal in adverts to be racist (not arguing this one), sexist, ageist, sizeist or to suggest any religious preference. It really is a problem in the UK now - if you get the wording wrong on an advert, you are leaving yourself open to legal action for discrimination. So when the old, fat, Jewish guy doesn't get the job as the gym instructor at the local muslim girls school - he can sue! If you just want a young, fresh out of college type to take up a junior role, you can't just say that, because everyone has the same rights to apply. You can't use the words like "vibrant", because they may "suggest" that the job is for young people.

Enough I say, let's take up the UAE way. Which leads me on to the main subject of this blog.

Apparently, after a survey has been done to show that 92 per cent of driving accidents in the UAE are caused by men - the main point they want to highlight is...........wait for it.........women are driving too slowly!

Classic.

I have a come across a number of dozy women drivers yes, but in terms of those likely to cause an accident the main culprits are young, male, Emirati or other Arab guys driving too fast in cars that are way too powerful for them to control properly.

There is a problem with driving too slow (again, way more men than women as I see it) - but is more of an issue of lane discipline. It's just about being in the right lane for the speed you are going - not doing 90kmph in the lane second from the left.

IF YOU ARE NOT OVERTAKING THEN GET OVER TO THE RIGHT YOU MUPPETS!

That concludes the lesson for today.

Amen.


Ministry faults slow driving by women
Kareem Shaheen
The National - News
16 Jan 2010

ABU DHABI Women driving too slowly are causing accidents and traffic jams and can lead to as many problems on the roads as speeding drivers, the Ministry of Interior said yesterday. While the vast majority of road accidents are caused by men, the...read more...

4 comments:

  1. Neil, I was led to believe that the "Keralites" were the top folk in India, they tend to be the ones that are in power and because of the education system there they are the best educated?????

    Tim

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tim, thanks for putting me straight... I really should have looked here first http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala

    I will remove the false statement from my blog.

    Good to see someone is awake!

    ReplyDelete
  3. About advertisements, looking on it from another side, I would suggest that it is the advertiser freedom to choose whatever he/she wants, and this is a positive point.
    On the other hand, you could find other adv. seeking another nationalities and different preferences, so here is the balance.
    btw some of them don't even specify anything,,,

    One thing I don't like on these advertisements is when they are stick with glue on the lighting columns and walls of buildings.

    Ahmed

    ReplyDelete
  4. I certainly don't think we have it right in the UK, there is too much concern for people's "rights", there should be equality, but there should be some common sense applied to advertising. Here , it is difficult sometimes to see that there are any rights, so I guess somewhere in between would be a good place to be.....

    ReplyDelete