He’s on the Roads Again
This also from today’s Gulf Times. This 25 year old was convicted of killing an Asian driver, due to his reckless driving, and the court fined him the equivalent of $1370. He also had to pay the family of the man he killed about $41,000. Oh. Wait. He “and his insurance company” will pay the fine.
And they didn’t take his driver’s license away, they suspended it. Oh. His jail sentence is also suspended.
Do you think because his license is suspended, that he isn’t driving?
What do you think he has learned about the value of a human life?
What do you think he has learned about equality before the law?
What do you think he has learned about accountability?
Do you believe he will be a better driver now that he has learned the consequences of reckless driving?
You will note that I did not use the tags “Doha” or “Qatar” on this post. That is because these are not situations unique to Qatar, unique to the Gulf countries, unique to the Middle East . . . in every country, including my own, there are pockets where justice depends on who is on trial. I would venture a guess that no country is exempt, that it is always a question of degree. So the question for us, as parent,s is how do we raise children who respect the value of life? Who respect the law? Who see themselves as equal to every other person before God and before the law?
Jail term suspended
A Doha appeals court has suspended the three-month imprisonment given by a lower court to a local motorist for reckless driving that caused the death of an Asian driver on June 27, 2007.
According to sources, the fatal accident took place in Shahaniya soon after midnight, “when the accused swerved left suddenly, for unknown reasons, colliding with a pickup driven by the deceased in the opposite direction.”
According to the court papers, there was no median separating the two lanes that ran in the opposite directions and the pickup was damaged in the crash.
The Qatari motorist was 25 at the time of the incident.
The appeals court ordered him to pay, jointly with the insurance company, QR150,000 as blood money to the family of the Bangladeshi victim (32).
The Doha court of first instance ordered to cancel the driving licence of the convict, but the upper court suspended it. A fine of QR5000 was upheld.
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It’s known that in some cases expatriate workers step out in front of cars due to not being able to cope with financial difficulties, knowing full well that the blood money their families back home would receive would be quite a lot as is the case here.
If you read the newspaper article, you will find that the victim was in a truck, and the young driver crossed the median and hit him head on. That’s not the same as having a victim who walks in front of a car. I do believe that happens, by the way, sometimes deliberately, and, as often, obliviously.
There just isn’t awareness on safe driving habits in the gulf. How often do we see mothers driving with toddlers in their laps? If they’re rich enough to buy a Lexus why cant they shell out a little more and buy a baby seat?