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 Where roads are plagued by the quick and the dead

It is one o'clock in the afternoon and I am in the back of a taxi travelling down the airport highway into town. It is 39C outside and the sun is making pretty patterns on the seats, dancing like yellow butterflies as we drive under the bridges. In a moment my heart stops as the driver, Akhman, slams on the brakes to avoid collision with a four-wheel drive Jeep that cuts across four lanes of traffic without indicating, using its bull bars as battering rams, to make the next exit. As the Jeep disappears down the slip road, I try to return my heart rate to a normal level, and we drive on in silence.

This month Dubai will host the the Gulf Traffic 2002 event, a conference arranged to discuss solutions to the Middle East's traffic problems, and road safety. Road accidents killed around one in 3,000 residents last year, making it the second major cause of death in the United Arab Emirates, a figure up 15% on the previous year.

The authorities seem unsure of how to solve the problem. It is rarely faults in the road that cause accidents: modern Dubai is only 30 years old, the roads are new and in excellent condition. Most accidents are caused by one factor alone: human error. Men, who account for 88% of road deaths, have been targeted as the chief culprits.

The main causes of accidents have been identified as speeding, an offence subject to driver interpretation given that most, even the police, assume every speed limit has a 20km margin; light jumping; an offence that can be committed up to six times a year before the loss of licence (for six months); lane hopping; and mobile phone distractions. Instead of punishing the reckless, twice a year Dubai police patrol the roads in unmarked cars, pull over appropriate candidates and then reward the competent drivers with cash prizes.

We drive past rows of glass-clad buildings behind which sidewalks filter into sand and street signs lead to nowhere, waiting to be married to the next plot, which has not yet been developed. Two columns of cars are over- and undertaking us on the highway. Their owners, Arabs, Lebanese, Pakistanis and Westerners, stare vacantly ahead or, despite lack of passengers, talk enigmatically, their hands barely on the wheel for all the gesticulation: the result of mobile phone culture and the invention of the hands-free kit. The city flickers a reflection in their Gucci sunglasses.

Only Akhman, a Pakistani who takes a strict 15-minute prayer break five times a day regardless of whether a fare is in the back seat or not, seems aware of this daily dice with death. "Is kids," he sighs, waving to the road with a parental fatigue. "They get fast cars as presents. They drive how they like."

However, drivers who kill an individual are required to pay the victim's family a regulation $60,000 compensation, known as "blood money". It is vital that residents choose car insurance packages that cover it - if not, the driver is imprisoned until payment. If the driver is unable to raise the funds he or she is entitled to apply to the Sheikh Mohammad Makhtoum charity, established to assist the growing multinational population of incarcerated drivers with their fines. Additionally, with a good credit rating, a 12-part payment plan can be negotiated.

In Dubai alone $1.5m of blood money was paid out in the first half of this year. The problem is so common in the Arab world that it is rumoured that in Saudi Arabia many drivers regard a shovel as an essential piece of emergency equipment, so that in case of an accident they can dispose of any unfortunate evidence in the desert, thus avoiding damages.

Dubai remains a city built in homage to the motor vehicle. Pristine sports cars weave through six-lane highways and up beautiful, sweeping, spiral-like junctions, the envy of any Western city. Next week I get my resident's visa and with it my driving licence - I can't wait.


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