Getting things done in Abu Dhabi, UAE

On returning from the Vet's this morning, Moose (the cat) and I entered the roundabout at Shakbout and Delma Streets.

We (Moose and I) were in the middle lane of the three and indicating to turn left. There was a silver Camry in the inside lane also waiting but as they were to my left, I couldn't see any indicators.

In a break in the traffic, my feline companion and I (still indicating) entered the intersection and proceeded - while staying in our lane - to follow the roundabout around to the left.

The Camry decided to accelerate hard and *almost* t- boned me as I was turning, as it was trying to go straight, from the inside lane.
Continues

Read more

We waited for as long as we could to get a feel for the way the traffic flows, and sat in the front of taxi's to get our heads around the steering wheel being on the opposite side to where we were used to. Then we made other excuses: too hot, cold, early, late - finally we took the plunge.

It didn't hurt a bit.

I guess it depends on your own experiences how you respond to the fracas of driving here in Abu Dhabi. Coming from Australia though it was a very steep learning curve.
Particularly when we were used to minor road faux pas (like indicating a little late) that resulted in varying degrees of "interactions" between drivers. "Interactions" that ranged from passive aggression to outright tyre-lever-window-breaking-drag-people-out-of-the-car kind of aggression.

Here it at first feels like a free-for-all. Speed limits initially appear to be uniformly ignored or used only as a guide, threats of fines for illegal parking go mostly unheeded, and the indicator on a car is just an interesting flashing light that few are interested in finding the use of.

The trick, we were told, was to hire a car and head out on a Friday morning, because it's the most religious day of the week and nothing is open so people have far less reason to be out on the road going anywhere. Being the ever-vigilant researcher that I am, I was stunned on our first Friday in the country that this is very much the case.

I conducted my research by standing at the window of the hotel we were staying in and looking along the road in front of Abu Dhabi mall - - usually with a hot beverage in my hand.
For the first week I just couldn't believe that traffic could be so loud, and chaotic and yet still move at any great pace. We arrived on the Saturday, and the working week begins on Sunday here in the UAE so I got a good 6 days of pondering in before Friday's alleged contrast - initial impressions didn't leave me hopeful.

We got up late that first Friday, went for breakfast as usual. On my return I showered and furnished myself with a cup of coffee, and then strode up to my research post at the window.

Now I am not about to say that there were tumbleweeds blowing along the deserted 6 lane street, nor will I suggest that saloon doors were creaking on their hinges, or that a lone flamenco guitarist was playing on the stoop of the store across the road.

But there was DEFINITELY less traffic.. a whole lot less. Surprisingly less. Seriously less.

While we weren't yet brave enough to hire a car at that stage - it did give us hope.

Yes, hope. Hope that we could ease our way in to things. Get used to driving on the opposite side of the car on the opposite side of the road. Friday would be a GREAT day to hire a car.

I picked our first hire car up the following Tuesday. At peak hour.

Karma organised it (obviously), and with much trepidation I got in the little Toyota Corolla, and proceeded to sit for a while in the car park of the car-rental place. That the staff staring out through the large glass doors at the guy who had just hired one of their cars were at first a little amused. Then the pointing started, and the thought that one of them was going to come out to attend to me (and thus discover that I was indeed hopeless) spurred me on to starting the car, and driving off...

... and into the traffic, to pick up Karma from her workplace. A destination that for me at that time was completely in the "concept stage". In my home country, I can pretty much stand anywhere and point to the north. I just can. HERE though, in the wilds of Abu Dhabi, I am utterly at a loss. You could point at your feet and tell me that that was north and I'd have to believe you, because that would at least be definitive. I just don't have a clue.

SO, my internal compass being on the blink, combined with driving a car that had a steering wheel where I'm usually sitting as a passenger, in traffic that was like an angry animal, made for a VERY interesting first go at driving on Abu Dhabi's roads.

Karma has a knack for such things. As she got in the car I thanked her (through clenched teeth) for organising the car for such a time, she responded with here usual sweet smile and said "oops"... I gritted my teeth a little more and added "at least it's not a manual, that would be even more confusing" a week later Karma phoned up for the Van in the "Ikea adventure" (see post) ... guess what? Out of the 2 vans available - one automatic and one manual - GUESS which one she booked. I have always driven a manual - and by that stage it wasn't such a big deal. Nonetheless I am secretly suspicious that she did it on purpose!

The following are things that I think are a must when driving on Abu Dhabi's roads - please feel free to add to them in the comment section.

First and foremost, and this is not a negotiable thing: DO NOT, no matter how dangerous or reckless you think the other driver has behaved, DO NOT use any hand gestures that could be considered rude.
This is an offence, and a bad one. "Prison" bad. I know... it sounds ridiculous, but truly, keep your hands on the wheel. Suck it up, and move into the slow lane. Think about Puppies or kittens or whatever, but breathe through it, and don't retaliate.

Drive in the middle lane, the fast lane has issues with low flying BMW 7 series or massive American SUVs appearing out of nowhere, flashing lights and utilising their horns, the slow one has it's own quirks with cars turning into and out of them (no indication of course), or stopping, or driving slowly, or full of busses, road-workers, cleaners etc...The middle lane is fine.. stay in it as much as possible.

If you see a car that's indicating - it doesn't always mean it's going to turn.

If you see a car that isn't indicating - it doesn't mean it's NOT going to turn.

Being right is less important than being safe - be responsible for your own safety, and drive accordingly.

Don't let your own driving skills slip to the level that's often displayed here. Be courteous, and indicate and MAYBE we can get things changed by example, one expat at a time. (That's what I am clinging to anyway - it's rough being an optimist.)

There are alot more, feel free to add your own!

Don't let this post scare you away from driving here in Abu Dhabi - it's actually kind of fun, and don't take things to heart OR too seriously (apart from your safety) and everything will be fine. The reality is that EVERY capital city in the world has it's traffic quirks. Most can be attributed to local knowledge and as a result new drivers can feel a little overwhelmed.

If you make a mistake it'll be okay - you will get honked at here whether you are right, wrong, (or not even there on occasion) - but there is a difference in intent here. The horn is used more like a conversation thing rather than an aggressive one in most cases. Almost like a bat's sonar... "Honk - I'm over here", "Honk - no, over here" etc. etc.

When it comes to driving... jump on in with confidence, the water is fine.

Road accidents involving pedestrians are common, partly due to the speeds involved.. but also due to lack of concentration by the pedestrians themselves.

26 pedestrian road fatalities were recorded in the first few months of 2009, which, considering the size of the population - is waaaay too many.

I found that my extensive wandering about the city in those first couple of weeks was the best thing I could have done to get a solid feel for how things move. The first thing I noticed was how many side streets and slip roads there are, and that how they didn't all have traffic moving in the direction that I expected. Another point of interest is that large arrows painted on the road indicating the direction of traffic are an indication only, and certainly not gospel or always adhered to.

Something I got used to reasonably quickly, for while I may have be crossing a narrow entry into a car park, and that narrow entry might be angle in such a way that would allow traffic to only enter it, AND that it had an indicating arrow painted on the ground, AND had a no exit sign facing the car park... yes despite all these things, it was MY fault that the guy in a Mercedes, who must have had to do a 900 point turn in order to face get his car to go against all the Traffic Authority's instructions, had to slam on his brakes as he was leaving aforementioned car park at warp factor 9 to avoid squishing me.

At least that is what I think he was gently trying to explain to me while shouting so hard he was spitting on the inside of his windshield. I can only assume that has is what he was doing - I didn't speak enough Arabic to understand it fully.

He became even more "Explanatory" when a car tried to enter (legally) through the drive that both he and your glad-I-was-wearing-brown-pants blogger were occupying. He became so enthusiastic that he decided he would continue educating me by shouting at the driver of the other car... then that driver started educating me. How lucky, MORE education free of charge! (?)

Look, the point I am trying to make is this - I found that sticking to the elementary rules that I used to have to follow. Back when it was a pedestrian's responsibility not to step in front of a car as much as it was a driver's job to drive with care, bears alot of fruit. I like being right (ask anyone who knows me) , but the desire to be right, for me at least, is over-ridden by my lack of desire to pose as a hood ornament on the front of the Bentley that has just "Shared my space".

The mantra I follow is this.
Look both ways, work out which way the traffic is coming from.
Look both ways again.
Move quickly across the road.

To add to the experience it seems that 90% of people don't indicate, and 95% turn at the very last moment they can. I worked out VERY quickly that just because a car is not indicating AND just about to pass the entry the driver might wish to turn into does NOT mean they won't turn, and haven't been planning it all along.

Oh.. and the bits that look like pedestrian crossings .. you know the ones, a striped white line affair on the road where, in an ideal world cars will notice you standing next to it and slow to a stop, and cheerfully wave at you as you stroll by?

Not a chance - this is opposite world - I swear they speed up as I am crossing, forcing me to scamper (I am 6 feet tall and 95+kgs - I am NOT a natural scamperer) to safety.

It's not all bad, they do have an animated walk signal which I really like. When it's your turn to move the green man appears on the overhead light just like anywhere else except he walks.. nay saunters, until you are half way across and then his walking becomes far more brisk, follow his lead and everything will be okay. When the sign turns to don't walk - sort yourself out quickly - there is NO grace period, and traffic here takes off like it has been shot from a cannon.

Sound scary?

It's not - just take absolute responsibility for your safety, and all will be well.

If ever I am about to step onto the road and have any confusion about where the traffic actually is rather than where I think it is I stop and take another look - has saved me more than once.

As mentioned in the traffic post ... the traffic here is, at first, terrifying.

While I like the adventure of "taxi destination translation" or using the seriously excellent bus system, sometimes you just want to get in your own car and go.

All the major rental car companies are here, Hertz, Avis, Budget, Europcar... at least that's what any google search for "Abu Dhabi car rentals" that we did came up with. I'd like to tell you where to find them too, but.. I don't know where they are. It's not that they AREN'T here - it's just that I haven't seen them - but we used another company, so I guess I haven't actually been looking that hard since.

I did try one of the local companies prior to settling on the one we did. It was a nice looking place with a suitably large sign out the front. It had a distinct lack of ill-fitting curtains. It had a reception desk AND and office - things were looking hopeful.

I walked into the office, told them what I needed (a small car), they said they didn't have any, but here was a number could I call it in an hour. Now this place was right across the street from the hotel, I had my usual "I'm confident but we both know that I am a gumby, but my money is as good as any" look on my face, and I hadn't balked or bartered at his quote. I was so ripe and good a prospect I was literally about to fall off the vine under the weight of my own ... err.. ripeness.

I called back in the specified time, plus 10 minutes to account for Abu Dhabi lag..
"Yes, we have no car, call back in the morning" *click*

I did.

"No cars, give me your number, I will call by midday"

I did.

He didn't.

So if you are reading this AND you are the Abu Dhabi car rental dude who dealt with a large bald sweating man in January and didn't call him back... not only did we rent a car on a 6 month contract from place that WAS interested in me , we bought a car from them them as well... HAH! (I know I know, but petty is all I have)

ooops, a digression... back to the topic...

The company we went with was Eurostar Car Rentals - mentioned in the fabulous "Abu Dhabi Residents guide" (see "books and stuff" post) - apart from the fact they were mentioned in that most useful book, they were also a short stroll from where we were staying. That, was as good a reason as any.

They could not have been more helpful, etc. etc. etc.

These guys deal in European stuff generally, but they have a smaller fleet of cheaper Japanese small cars too if that's your thing; we hired a little Toyota Corolla initially - it was clean and suitable.
They deal in really nice beasties too, Audis, Porches and VWs of all levels, from cars to 4wds and most things in between.

It was also the same place that we hired the Toyota van from the Ikea adventure story (see the adventures category).

Check the website - don't be misled by the whole booking online thing, it was broken when we tried it, and results here work far better by phone anyway. So give them a call.

The map on the website is rudimentary at best... so here's the directions.

1: Get in a cab and ask them to take you to Abu Dhabi mall, if there is any confusion just say Beach Rotana - it's the hotel that is attached to the mall.
2: Go in the main entrance to Abu Dhabi mall (it's where the taxi rank is) - and straight up the escalators in front of you.
3: Turn left at the top of the escalators and double back on yourself, go to the coffee shop "Mug and bean" get yourself a coffee and a muffin (blueberry is my choice, Karma prefers chocolate).
4: Discuss how steps 2 an 3 in this direction list are optional.
5: Go back down the escalators.
6: As you leave through the front doors you'll see a pedestrian overpass, use it.. it takes a certain "skill" to negotiate the traffic without it.
7: You will see a road that runs in the same direction as the overpass, but begins just to the right of where you will get off the stairs.
8: Walk up that road past another overpass (no need to use it stay on this side of the road)
9: At the second set of traffic lights turn left... You will walk past the First Gulf Bank.. then a broad alleyway gap and you are there!

The reason I say go to AD mall as a start, is that most taxi drivers won't know how to get there - it is in the middle of some pretty serious roadworks, and there is limited space to get around OR turnaround if you make a wrong turn - that might leave you have to try the U-turn extravaganza just to get you back the district.

Links of interest.
www.eurostarrental.com