A circular was issued by the Road and Transport Authority in Dubai that "residents are now required to take permission from their employers to obtain a driving licence." (Gulf News)
In short, you can't learn driving without your employer giving you a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to learn driving. Oh poor you, if you are in the bad books of your boss and didn't take a driving licence as yet.
Creative rules such as these must have been developed in order to divert attention from the "killer tag" Dubai roads have.
In June 2006 - the death toll was calculated at "Dubai road death every 27 hours" , then reports citing the Traffic Department stated 156 people were killed in road accidents in Dubai in the first six months of 2006. Then on 27 September, 2006, Gulf News reported: "Around 214 people were killed in the first eight months of this year compared with 147 in the first eight months of 2005."
58 lives in three months since June, and the numbers keep rising. Is travelling not a human right? Where in the world does your boss decide if you get to drive or not? Living in the UAE without a car is hell and nonsensical rules as these, surely will not change the road kill numbers from spiralling higher with everything else in the UAE like the sky scrapers, rents, prices of commodities, etc.
And now employers get to decide if I can drive or not? Hmmm - Why stop at driving? - Why not an NOC from employers for buying a mobile phone or applying for a telephone connection at home, why not one for surfing the Internet outside the office, or renting out a flat or villa. Why not NOCs to get married, and another one to have children (like China), wearing shoes, visting malls, visiting beaches ... the list is endless. Thinking about it - death is already covered. You need an NOC in the case of death and if your family decides to fly your remains to your home country. Why don't they suggest to the United Nations for a "Decade of the Employer".
This NOC rule surely merits an entry in the Record Book of Whacky Laws! However, it would be heartening to see some rules in place - to tackle real issues such as making the roads safer for those already driving on the roads.
In short, you can't learn driving without your employer giving you a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to learn driving. Oh poor you, if you are in the bad books of your boss and didn't take a driving licence as yet.
Creative rules such as these must have been developed in order to divert attention from the "killer tag" Dubai roads have.
In June 2006 - the death toll was calculated at "Dubai road death every 27 hours" , then reports citing the Traffic Department stated 156 people were killed in road accidents in Dubai in the first six months of 2006. Then on 27 September, 2006, Gulf News reported: "Around 214 people were killed in the first eight months of this year compared with 147 in the first eight months of 2005."
58 lives in three months since June, and the numbers keep rising. Is travelling not a human right? Where in the world does your boss decide if you get to drive or not? Living in the UAE without a car is hell and nonsensical rules as these, surely will not change the road kill numbers from spiralling higher with everything else in the UAE like the sky scrapers, rents, prices of commodities, etc.
And now employers get to decide if I can drive or not? Hmmm - Why stop at driving? - Why not an NOC from employers for buying a mobile phone or applying for a telephone connection at home, why not one for surfing the Internet outside the office, or renting out a flat or villa. Why not NOCs to get married, and another one to have children (like China), wearing shoes, visting malls, visiting beaches ... the list is endless. Thinking about it - death is already covered. You need an NOC in the case of death and if your family decides to fly your remains to your home country. Why don't they suggest to the United Nations for a "Decade of the Employer".
This NOC rule surely merits an entry in the Record Book of Whacky Laws! However, it would be heartening to see some rules in place - to tackle real issues such as making the roads safer for those already driving on the roads.
"About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends."
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
3 comments:
great article an eye opener of sorts... coudnt believe that's happening
I read about this in a newspaper but somehow it didn't strike me as powerfully as it did after reading your blog. For a common person, when one of these whacky laws comes along, it somehow doesnt seem so whacky. Perhaps because he/she is too busy worrying about its effects on his/her daily life to ponder on its whackiness. But when somebody at the other end of the world reads about it in a book of whacky laws, it seems outrageous. I wonder whether the French felt that it was perfectly ordinary when their country banned Donald Duck because he was considered obcene for not wearing any pants.
Dubai is a country of funny laws. And such hilarity is an everyday happening now. Nonetheless, I guess, these things will never cease to creep up. Thumbs up to the article, anyway!
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