JEDDAH, 22 October 2004 — “People behave like animals. There is nothing that we can do to control traffic before iftar,” said a local police officer in despair. Shaking his head, he summed up the driving in the half hour before iftar.
Traditionally, the iftar meal is water and dates that break the fast nutritiously and gently. In Jeddah and other urban centers, however, the new tradition of “ful and tamiz” or other heavy meals has taken precedence.
As dusk falls, there is a headlong rush to the many small “hole in the wall” shops selling “ful” and the resulting crush of cars and people produces a sometimes not too friendly mayhem.
“The family that I work for insist that I buy ‘ful and tamiz’ half an hour before iftar,” said Abdulrahman Khan, a Pakistani driver. “They should know that this is impossible because that is when the biggest rush is and when most of the accidents happen.” He said scores of drivers are sent out at this time to buy iftar meals. “They all have to bring it home before iftar or else they will be in trouble for being late.” In his opinion, these families do not think; all they care about is what they want. “They are not considerate.”
“In the whole year I have not had a single accident. In Ramadan and particularly before iftar, I had seven accidents in one month last year alone, and one accident so far this Ramadan,” said Rami Abdulaziz, a Lebanese resident. He believed that more were coming.
Two days ago, he saw an old man hit by a speeding car because the driver was in a hurry to get home. The driver, instead of slowing down, accelerated and sounded his horn to clear the way. “The man saw him too late and there was an accident. It is ridiculous that a man is killed just so the driver can reach the dinner table on time.”
Ahmad Al-Ghamdi thought that Ramadan was a month of self-discipline and a month of forgiveness. “It is the total opposite of what you see before iftar. People fight for stupid reasons. They break the law by driving in the wrong direction or running a traffic light.
“It is sad to see people fighting just because of a small bump between cars, or because the driver was driving slowly. I understand that police cannot do anything about it.”
Al-Ghamdi said he saw five traffic accidents in the Rawdah district on one single day.
A traffic police officer, who declined to give his name, said people behave like animals half an hour before iftar time. “The most difficult job for a police officer is to control the situation at that time. Sometimes the best thing is to get out of the way.”
He said he saw all kinds of violations, but could not do anything. “This is the only time when police officers in uniform are not respected. People drive through red lights, and drive over the sidewalk. I receive tens of calls about car accidents and I cannot attend to them.”
Sometimes he did that intentionally. “When I see a minor car accident, I ignore it because I know that both of them are responsible. Since this is a month of forgiveness, I will not interfere and let them resolve the issue peacefully or drive to the traffic department after iftar,” he added with a wry smile.
