This will be short but I had to tell you.  On the road that I take to get to work they are doing LOTS of construction so basically it is closed to through traffic and all cars are diverted around the construction.  Just before the diversion there is a U-turn lane separated by the concrete “Jersey Barriers”.  I take this U-turn to get back to the office.  Okay, so Monday I get in the U-turn lane behind a silver SUV.  There are a lot of cars lined up to make this turn and it’s worse this week because the schools are now back in session.  So I’m inching forward and just before the concrete barriers this black, Chevy Suburban slides up along side the SUV in front of me and starts to “push” his way into the turn lane in front of the car ahead of me.  The guy in the black car keeps getting closer and closer but the other car won’t back off and let him in.  The black car guy is now so close he sticks his arm out of his window and pounds on the hood of the car next to him which, you guessed it, only makes this driver even more determined to not let him in!  At this point I’m probably sitting in my car with my mouth open wondering just what in the world is going to happen right in front of me.  Now these are both Saudi’s and I can tell because they are both wearing the white robes and checkered head gear.  The guy in the black car is now so mad that he literally uses his car to push the other slightly smaller SUV out of his way and pulls in front to make the U-turn!!!  Both guys are hanging out of their windows yelling and swinging their fists in the air but neither stop and both complete the turn and roar off in the same direction!!  I can’t see what happened to the silver SUV but the side of the black one is all scratched and dented now!  I’m thinking, wow, did this really happen??!!  For me at this point the smart thing is to hang back and stay away from both of these guys!  As crazy as this was what really made me mad is that the guy in the black car had his kids in the back with him!!!  What kind of example is this to children??!!  No wonder there are so many terrible drivers here!!

Now let’s fast forward to Tuesday morning….same time, same place.  I’m in the U-turn lane and guess what I see coming up on my right from behind!!!  Yup!  The very same SUV from Monday!  Same guy, same attitude!  Thank goodness when I see this I have just passed the concrete barriers so there is no way this guy can bully himself in front of me at this point.  Now if he had been there a few seconds early and tried, I would have gladly backed off and let him in because we have already established this guy is certifiably nuts!  Anyway, I’m now fascinated and so I slow down and watch the same guy do the exact same thing with the car behind me!!!  He reaches out, pounds on the hood then gets so close the other car’s rear-view mirror gets mashed off and who knows what else may have happened!!  Also, kids in the car again!!  WOW….

Double fast forward to this morning…..I’m getting ready to pull into the U-turn lane and guess who I see!!  Oh, you’re getting good now!  Yup, same psycho from the past 2 mornings…..I do the smart thing this time, I pull out of the turn lane and go another half mile to a different U-turn and get to work just fine!!  I’m driving a company car, not yet a month old with under 1000km….no way am I risking the hassle of battle with Mr. Road Rage!

By the way, we were told in our Defensive Driving class that to get bodywork on a car repaired here in Saudi you MUST be possession of an accident filing/report by the Insurance Police.  Without that report NO one will touch a car!  If they do, they can be put in prison, deported or fined heavily and have their business shut down!  So this tells me the aggressor in this story just really doesn’t care about himself, his kids, his car or anyone else for that matter!

I need to find a new route to work!!