Traffic Report

This is actually just a post script to my last Blog on the theme of driving here. Statistics don’t mean much if there are no comparisons. So here are a few comparisons:

On Road Safety, the world level for death from road accidents is 19 deaths per 100,000 persons; for industrial countries, the rate is 12 per 100,000. (I guess they can afford better roads and more traffic lights.) In Oman, according to the Minister of Health, the rate is 25.8 to 35 per 100,000 persons. One of the highest in the world! That information was from 2004, when a conference was held here on road safety by WHO. Shortly after, a huge campaign program was set up on traffic safety and speeding. Recently, hidden camera/photo radars have been set up along major traffic routes. The deal is when you renew your car license anything caught on tape will be used against you.

I must admit that I have noticed great improvements in road safety and more importantly driver attitudes and awareness here in the Muscat area in the last 3 years. People here still drive very fast, people tailgate and cut you off but hey, I drove in LA last summer and saw the same thing. Plus coming from Montreal, where the speed limit is merely a suggestion, nothing should really faze me. Not even unlicensed trucks full of goats at 150 km/h…yep, no problem.

On number of paved roads in Oman, 30 years later, we have 6000 km of blacktop, plus countless more of graded roads leading to nowhere. Mighty impressive.

I also passed by the Toyota flagship dealer this afternoon. More than just renovating, Super-rich Brother #2 has completely demolished the old building and has in construction what looks like an outlet that is at least 20 feet taller/wider than Super-rich Brother #1’s Nissan dealership. Now who do you suppose will buy all those cars?

We are off to Salalah for a couple of days of sight-seeing. Salalah is a coastal city in the Dhofar Region, 1040 km south of Muscat, a 45 minute plane ride or 12 hours straight drive, close to the Yemen border. Salalah is where the Prophet Job is buried, where frankincense comes from and is nearby to the Lost City of Ubar (called the Atlantis of the Sands). More importantly it has the “Khareef” or Monsoons making Salalah green when everywhere else in Arabia is brown. Looking forward to it.