UAE and the underage driving problem

Another day, another underage driver, another accident and two lives lost in vain. I hate to be critical but such stories really drive me insane. Why was a 16 year old boy, without a driving license, driving a car with his 12 and 13 year old sisters in it at 3:30 am?

The UAE just needs to sit up and crack the whip on youngsters. A UAE university study done earlier this year reveals that 60% of Emirati and Arab drivers have driven before the legal age of 18…yes, 60 percent. 25% of the Emiratis regularly speed. 2.6% almost always jump the red signal. And how do all these people get away with it?

Now I am beginning to kind of agree with road safety campaigner Adam Kechil that the legal driving age should probably be dropped. I mean the kids are doing it any way so you might as well train them to drive rather than them getting into ridiculous accidents like these.

And while I criticize the systems and the attitudes, my heart goes out to the parents who have lost two of their kids in the blink of an eye. A third one is in hospital after being seriously injured. May you have the strength to get through this grief.