Mugwop
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Road Rage is one of the biggest problems in Pakistan. A problem which a lot of Pakistanis shy away from.
I always wondered why no one talks about it or why no one ever considered or took any kind of steps to stop this.
Here iare tiny examples to show how much of a problem Road Rage can be
Wasim Akram: Pakistani cricket legend's car targeted by gunman in Karachi road rage incident
Pakistani cricket legend Wasim Akram escaped unhurt when a gunman opened fire at his car in Karachi after a traffic collision, the player said.
Akram, one of the best left-arm fast bowlers ever to play the game, was on his way to coach at a training camp at the city's National Stadium when the incident happened.
"A car hit mine, I stopped him and then his guy stepped out and fired at my car," the former national captain said live on the Express News channel.
"He was definitely an official, I have noted the number of the car and given it to the police."
Initial reports said the gunman did not aim at the cricketer.
But Akram later said the man had been about to shoot him when someone revealed who he was.
"He tried to shoot me, his gun was pointing at me, then people told him my identity and he fired at the side of my car," Akram said.
"Had the people not told him about me, he would have shot me."
Karachi is one of Pakistan's most violent and unpredictable cities, racked on a daily basis by ethnic, political, sectarian and criminal bloodshed.
The 49-year-old Akram, Pakistan's all-time leading Test wicket-taker with 414 in 104 matches, is one of the country's best loved sportsmen.
He retired from playing in 2003 and is running a Pakistan Cricket Board fast bowling training camp at the National Stadium.
Along with right-arm partner Waqar Younis, he formed one of the most fearsome fast bowling partnerships in cricket history, leading Pakistan to its sole World Cup title in 1992.
Wasim Akram: Pakistani cricket legend's car targeted by gunman in Karachi road rage incident - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
If I can drive in Pakistan...
If I can drive in Pakistan, I sure as hell can drive anywhere in the world.
That notion sparked my quest to learn driving in Karachi. But what was supposed to be a journey to unlock more roads of adventure, turned out to be a series of unfortunate events.
it was 6:30 pm; I could totally understand that “heavy traffic” explanation. As soon as I saw my instructor, I literally heaved a sigh of relief and thought “now I can finally breathe”, which turned out to be yet another overstatement.
You see, the car had no windows, which made breathing in an unpolluted space impossible (don’t get me started on the street pollution). But the thing that struck me most - there were no seatbelts. I have never driven a car or taken up any driving theory lesson before, but I always thought that wearing a seatbelt is a ‘needless to say’ kind of traffic rule in any country, not excluding Pakistan. Apparently not.
If I am to ram into a tree or other vehicles, am I perhaps supposed to thrust myself backwards at that precise moment so that I would not fly through the windshield? Yes I do have an instructor who might want to make sure that doesn’t happen, but… we will get to that.
So let’s go back to 6:30pm. The car finally arrived after half an hour of cold waiting and I got into the passenger seat and five minutes later, my star-crossed aura struck once more – the tire bust. After a few tough minutes of hand signing, I finally understood what my instructor meant by “wheel”. Well a punctured tire might sound very much like an inauspicious start, but my spirits were still up, surprisingly, because I got to have a free lesson on changing tires, though it simply meant I got to watch from the side.
My instructor swiftly replaced the “wheel” while I invited ogles beside the car with a big red-lettered “L” for Loser plastered on the rear window. Okay maybe it’s “L” for Learning, but you can’t possibly blame me for thinking otherwise. After what seemed like 15 minutes, the man turned to me and said, “You, drive.” If there was any instance I felt like hitting anyone in Pakistan, it was then. But of course, back then I did not know this is what everyone does during their first driving lesson – they just cut straight to the chase and into the driver’s seat. But in my defense, they are not in an old and tatty car with an engine that sounds like metals of all kinds breaking into a gazillion pieces.
Now to the metaphysical part of my story; I always feel like the spirit of a world-class car racer lives within me, or perhaps I carry some of him or her (yes my car racer ghost can be a woman) from my past life. Anyway, my past experience with a Daytona in a climate-controlled arcade usually attracted envious looks from aggressive little boys with goofy larger-than-life grins, who at my every turns and drifts, frowned like they never had even when their teachers were lashing at them. That’s my achievement on the four-by-three arcade screen. In real life, it wasn’t that pretty.
See in the world of Daytona, the only living organism are those invisible spectators who exist for the sole purpose of clapping for me, and even that is contestable since they don’t subsist beyond the screen. But behind the steering wheel in Karachi, it is as if people want to run into a car just so that they could be seen. Until now, I had not managed to grasp that concept, which is why I know I might not be explaining it well. They come from all places, left right back and front, and they want you to be more afraid of them than you should be, like a cat which thinks it is a lion. But seriously, who are they kidding?
The onlooker who sat next to me seemed to understand these messed up dynamics. So he kept saying to me, “be careful of cars, and be more careful of humans”. Well it could also be interpreted as he does not want me to kill someone, but no I would not think of him that way because I know he definitely does not value life as much as I do – especially after what he shared about his hunting trips, the glorious and not-so-glorious facts. Thus I prefer to regard it as “he does not want me to kill someone with him sitting next to me,” which runs well by me, because I would not have the kind of money to get myself out of prison like CERTAIN people from CERTAIN walks of life do.
They (public service advertisements that are definitely not shown in Karachi) always advise people to not get distracted while driving, so there are in fact a lot of traffic rules dedicated especially to that. The most common of all being the “no texting or calling while driving” rule. There is a reason why that law exists. It is hard to understand how a person could brake in split seconds, and daringly place his or her life on the mechanics of a tattered car. But it happens, and quite frequently so, because I do not think headsets exist in Karachi, at least not for these drivers.
That still treads the dangerous but acceptable line, like single rope cliff climbing, it is inconsiderate and the innocent ones usually die first, but we are human, and subconsciously we have the tendency to conclude our lost meaningless lives in a big whoosh, usually with the company of others, without even intending to.
But driving in the opposite direction of incoming traffic? That is the last straw. It is akin to suicide bombing, it is premeditated and there isn’t a single excuse on planet Earth that suffices to explain why it could be done. It is intolerable and should not be condoned. No amount of blinkers would make me safe, driving amongst this suicidal bunch.
With that angry thought, I expected nothing less than another punctured tire, because angry karma comes in one full round, and this rings true even on an inanimate object. Once again, I had to get down, but lucky for me (my first peek of luck, fancy that), my house was not far, so my instructor walked me home.
The first time I drove, I had to walk home, that is life with a big capital “L” in Karachi.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ten rules for driving on Pakistan’s roads
If you follow these rules you are the DON of the Pakistani roads. No one will dare mess with you. Read, remember and follow these rules!
I always wondered why no one talks about it or why no one ever considered or took any kind of steps to stop this.
Here iare tiny examples to show how much of a problem Road Rage can be
Wasim Akram: Pakistani cricket legend's car targeted by gunman in Karachi road rage incident
Pakistani cricket legend Wasim Akram escaped unhurt when a gunman opened fire at his car in Karachi after a traffic collision, the player said.
Akram, one of the best left-arm fast bowlers ever to play the game, was on his way to coach at a training camp at the city's National Stadium when the incident happened.
"A car hit mine, I stopped him and then his guy stepped out and fired at my car," the former national captain said live on the Express News channel.
"He was definitely an official, I have noted the number of the car and given it to the police."
Initial reports said the gunman did not aim at the cricketer.
But Akram later said the man had been about to shoot him when someone revealed who he was.
"He tried to shoot me, his gun was pointing at me, then people told him my identity and he fired at the side of my car," Akram said.
"Had the people not told him about me, he would have shot me."
Karachi is one of Pakistan's most violent and unpredictable cities, racked on a daily basis by ethnic, political, sectarian and criminal bloodshed.
The 49-year-old Akram, Pakistan's all-time leading Test wicket-taker with 414 in 104 matches, is one of the country's best loved sportsmen.
He retired from playing in 2003 and is running a Pakistan Cricket Board fast bowling training camp at the National Stadium.
Along with right-arm partner Waqar Younis, he formed one of the most fearsome fast bowling partnerships in cricket history, leading Pakistan to its sole World Cup title in 1992.
Wasim Akram: Pakistani cricket legend's car targeted by gunman in Karachi road rage incident - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
If I can drive in Pakistan...
If I can drive in Pakistan, I sure as hell can drive anywhere in the world.
That notion sparked my quest to learn driving in Karachi. But what was supposed to be a journey to unlock more roads of adventure, turned out to be a series of unfortunate events.
it was 6:30 pm; I could totally understand that “heavy traffic” explanation. As soon as I saw my instructor, I literally heaved a sigh of relief and thought “now I can finally breathe”, which turned out to be yet another overstatement.
You see, the car had no windows, which made breathing in an unpolluted space impossible (don’t get me started on the street pollution). But the thing that struck me most - there were no seatbelts. I have never driven a car or taken up any driving theory lesson before, but I always thought that wearing a seatbelt is a ‘needless to say’ kind of traffic rule in any country, not excluding Pakistan. Apparently not.
If I am to ram into a tree or other vehicles, am I perhaps supposed to thrust myself backwards at that precise moment so that I would not fly through the windshield? Yes I do have an instructor who might want to make sure that doesn’t happen, but… we will get to that.
So let’s go back to 6:30pm. The car finally arrived after half an hour of cold waiting and I got into the passenger seat and five minutes later, my star-crossed aura struck once more – the tire bust. After a few tough minutes of hand signing, I finally understood what my instructor meant by “wheel”. Well a punctured tire might sound very much like an inauspicious start, but my spirits were still up, surprisingly, because I got to have a free lesson on changing tires, though it simply meant I got to watch from the side.
My instructor swiftly replaced the “wheel” while I invited ogles beside the car with a big red-lettered “L” for Loser plastered on the rear window. Okay maybe it’s “L” for Learning, but you can’t possibly blame me for thinking otherwise. After what seemed like 15 minutes, the man turned to me and said, “You, drive.” If there was any instance I felt like hitting anyone in Pakistan, it was then. But of course, back then I did not know this is what everyone does during their first driving lesson – they just cut straight to the chase and into the driver’s seat. But in my defense, they are not in an old and tatty car with an engine that sounds like metals of all kinds breaking into a gazillion pieces.
Now to the metaphysical part of my story; I always feel like the spirit of a world-class car racer lives within me, or perhaps I carry some of him or her (yes my car racer ghost can be a woman) from my past life. Anyway, my past experience with a Daytona in a climate-controlled arcade usually attracted envious looks from aggressive little boys with goofy larger-than-life grins, who at my every turns and drifts, frowned like they never had even when their teachers were lashing at them. That’s my achievement on the four-by-three arcade screen. In real life, it wasn’t that pretty.
See in the world of Daytona, the only living organism are those invisible spectators who exist for the sole purpose of clapping for me, and even that is contestable since they don’t subsist beyond the screen. But behind the steering wheel in Karachi, it is as if people want to run into a car just so that they could be seen. Until now, I had not managed to grasp that concept, which is why I know I might not be explaining it well. They come from all places, left right back and front, and they want you to be more afraid of them than you should be, like a cat which thinks it is a lion. But seriously, who are they kidding?
The onlooker who sat next to me seemed to understand these messed up dynamics. So he kept saying to me, “be careful of cars, and be more careful of humans”. Well it could also be interpreted as he does not want me to kill someone, but no I would not think of him that way because I know he definitely does not value life as much as I do – especially after what he shared about his hunting trips, the glorious and not-so-glorious facts. Thus I prefer to regard it as “he does not want me to kill someone with him sitting next to me,” which runs well by me, because I would not have the kind of money to get myself out of prison like CERTAIN people from CERTAIN walks of life do.
They (public service advertisements that are definitely not shown in Karachi) always advise people to not get distracted while driving, so there are in fact a lot of traffic rules dedicated especially to that. The most common of all being the “no texting or calling while driving” rule. There is a reason why that law exists. It is hard to understand how a person could brake in split seconds, and daringly place his or her life on the mechanics of a tattered car. But it happens, and quite frequently so, because I do not think headsets exist in Karachi, at least not for these drivers.
That still treads the dangerous but acceptable line, like single rope cliff climbing, it is inconsiderate and the innocent ones usually die first, but we are human, and subconsciously we have the tendency to conclude our lost meaningless lives in a big whoosh, usually with the company of others, without even intending to.
But driving in the opposite direction of incoming traffic? That is the last straw. It is akin to suicide bombing, it is premeditated and there isn’t a single excuse on planet Earth that suffices to explain why it could be done. It is intolerable and should not be condoned. No amount of blinkers would make me safe, driving amongst this suicidal bunch.
With that angry thought, I expected nothing less than another punctured tire, because angry karma comes in one full round, and this rings true even on an inanimate object. Once again, I had to get down, but lucky for me (my first peek of luck, fancy that), my house was not far, so my instructor walked me home.
The first time I drove, I had to walk home, that is life with a big capital “L” in Karachi.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ten rules for driving on Pakistan’s roads
If you follow these rules you are the DON of the Pakistani roads. No one will dare mess with you. Read, remember and follow these rules!
- When uncertain about a situation, Always use the HORN. The louder the better. The car with the loudest ear-drum busting horn has the right to run on the road.
- It is acceptable to make a sharp left/right turn across 3 lanes if you suddenly realize you do not need to go through an underpass/road etc. Other vehicles should understand your intentions and “Majboori”.
- In a road accident, the one with the bike or cheaper vehicle has the people’s sympathy and wins regardless of the situation. If a woman is involved people will always side with her and many “Bhais” will pop up to help her.
- Going about 500 meters on wrong way is acceptable if it saves you about one km of traveling or 2 minutes of your life.
- Driving without a driving license or drunk driving is fine, if you are the SON of a bureaucrat or your uncle is a well-known political figure.
- Bikes/Chingchis/Rickshas are exempted from all laws of the road. They may overtake you from any side and if they scratch your vehicle they are to be exempted because they are “Ghareeb admi”.
- At a “Chowk/Chorungi”(Intersection) if you do not move your car 0.01 second after the green light, the drivers before you have the right to HONK and abuse you, even beat you up to a pulp.
- If you do not write “Maa ki Dua” behind your car, you will have to be answerable to God on the Day of Judgment. Ignore “Baap ka pesa and mehnat”.
- It is the responsibility of every boy to stop at a girls college with his speakers on “Amplifier” and mark his presence in front of the girls. It should not be considered immodest and cheap.
- A Pedestrian has no right to walk on the road because he/she does not own any form of transport and should be considered the lowest of the lows.
