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Road to anywhere is dangerous in Mideast

By SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN
Published February 25, 2007

AMMAN, Jordan - In a country where motorists seem to have little concern for their safety, I was surprised when my driver, Hazim, went out of his way to assure me he is cautious behind the wheel.

The reason? He lost most of his family when a truck barrelled through an intersection and slammed into their car. The accident so devastated him that he moved to Switzerland for several years because he couldn't bear to stay in Jordan with its painful memories.

Many outsiders associate violent death in the Middle East with wars or terrorism. But Iraq aside, you're far more likely to be killed in a car accident than by a mortar or bomb.

The problem is especially acute in oil-rich states, where superb new motorways practically beg drivers - many of them young and inexperienced - to hit warp speed in their powerful sport utility vehicles and sports cars. Passing lanes are often a blur of vehicles going at least 100 mph.

Among countries with the world's highest traffic fatality rates are the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. As of 2000, the latest year for which comparative statistics are available, the death rate in each of these wealthy Mideast nations was more than 18 per 100,000 people - compared with nine in Australia, eight in Canada and six in Britain.

Alas, the U.S. rate at the start of the millennium was 14.9 and it increased to 15.5 as of two years ago, the same as Jordan's. "We're a highly mobile society and we travel a lot by motor vehicle, so there's considerably more exposure to risk," says Alan Hoskin of the National Safety Council.

But back to the Mideast.

Although its 12 fatalities per 100,000 are the lowest in the region, Bahrain, another small, rich Arab nation, still has twice the death rate of two other city-states: Hong Kong and Singapore. Bahrainis lose more years of life to traffic accidents than they do to heart disease, cancer and infection combined, according to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Why are Mideast motorists so reckless? Perhaps because they think they're fated to die on the road, a professor in the UAE suggests.

"The concept of destiny is integral to the cultural and religious beliefs of the region, much as fatalism about the inevitability 'of accidents' was and still is in many Western countries," said Peter Barss of UAE University's department of community medicine.

"Until this issue is addressed, and populations are convinced of the preventability of injury, safety belts and motorcycle helmets will not be reliably worn by a majority of inhabitants in the region - even by police with the duty of enforcing existing legislation."

Compared to its Arab neighbors, Israel has a low traffic fatality rate - eight per 100,000 people. But looked at another way, Israel is one of the world's most dangerous countries for motorists: it ranks 101st in population but 16th in deaths per miles driven.

Moreover, Israelis are far likelier to die in traffic accidents than by terrorism. While terrorists killed a total of 162 people in 2004 and 2005, nearly 1,000 Israelis died on the roads in the same period - the peak of the Palestinian uprising or intifada.

"Not long after moving to Israel, my friend Jill, nervous about the threat of terrorist attacks, decided to borrow her boyfriend's car for a week and try driving to work instead of taking the bus," Allison Kaplan Sommer wrote last year for the Jewish organization B'nai B'rith International.

"By her fourth day of driving, she reached the conclusion that she 'would rather deal with the fear of being blown to pieces on a bus' than cope with being behind the wheel on the streets of Tel Aviv."

The article, headlined "The Automotive Intifada," says the "allegedly volatile Israeli personality" may in fact contribute to the high death toll. In a December 2005 survey of Israelis and Europeans in 23 countries, Israelis were more likely than any other national group to become angry with other drivers.

The Israeli government has recently begun a big push to reduce traffic fatalities. Motorists are not allowed to talk on cell phones while driving. Police can seize the car of a drunken driver and impound it for a full month, even if the vehicle is owned by another individual. And drivers under 21 cannot carry more than two passengers without an experienced escort.

Still, horrifying accidents abound. "Every weekend, you hear about a bunch of people being killed," says Rafi Cohen, a professional driver who works for ABC News in Jerusalem. "It's terrible."

Susan Taylor Martin can be contacted at susan@sptimes.com.

[Last modified February 25, 2007, 01:09:32]