DRIVING IN SYRIA

Driving in Syria is not too difficult - all you have to do is pre-empt much more, and allow everyone more space. The old maxim "treat all other road users as if they are idiots" holds especially true in Syria - as far as I am concerned, they are all total idiots. However, the basic rule of expecting the worst and allowing ludicrous amounts of space seems to work - my drive out of Damascus was therefore not too bad, and I never even came close to an accident. One thing to look out for is cycles - in the cities, they tend to go against the flow, which means they cycle on the left, and go clockwise around roundabouts: I nearly knocked off a cyclist in Deir ez Zawr at a roundabout, as I had my hands full just watching out for traffic going the correct way around the roundabout.

My biggest worry was missing the petrol station, as all fuel stops in Syria are vital. Petrol stations in Syria are few and far between, mainly situated on the major roads leading out of the main cities. Therefore you should fill up your tank just about every time you see a petrol station, unless you have more than enough fuel to make it to the next major city.

The few motorways there are in Syria are quite good, and the Syrians do tend to stick to the rule of driving on the right and overtaking on the left. Only rarely do you find lorries hogging the outside lane, usually when the quality of the inside lane leaves something to be desired. You must look out for oncoming traffic on, or partially on, the hard shoulder, usually bikes, motorbikes and the motortrikes used by the Bedouin, and occasionally larger things, such as vans. Motorcycles are also frequently encountered coming the wrong way down the hard shoulder on the inside of the motorway. If, due to roadworks, oncoming traffic is streamed onto the inside lane of your carriageway, don’t let the fact that it is only a dual carriage way fool you into believing that they won’t overtake each other - on the road from Homs to Tartus, I was faced by the sight of a lorry coming towards me in the outside lane being overtaken by another lorry, in my lane, forcing me onto the hard shoulder at about 45mph. The hard shoulder in Syria is rough at the best of times.

If a lorry is hogging the outside lane of a stretch of motorway where the central reservation is a 2m strip of tarmac marked by parallel lines, but with no barriers as such, use this strip to overtake - just make sure no-one coming the other way has the same idea. Also, don’t be surprised if you see two men nonchalantly lifting a motorbike over the central reservation crash barriers, thereby each standing in one of the outside lanes. Overtake where you feel like it, not only when there is no oncoming traffic. The same rule goes for pulling out onto main roads - if you pull out in front of anyone, make sure to stop across both lanes of the carriage way so the oncoming vehicle has no chance to swerve to avoid you. I encountered a van sitting by the roadside when nothing was coming either way except myself. The guy waited until I was almost upon him, and then pulled out into my path, and ended up hogging both lanes of the dual carriage way. I had anticipated some stupidity, but I reckoned the fact that it was a dual carriage way would permit me to avoid him anyway. Instead, I had to skid to a halt on the hard shoulder. Give a wave of thanks for clearing your path to people you have just forced off the road by overtaking or pulling out - the Arabs are nothing if not polite.

More important than any other function in a car, bar the accelerator (and that only by a narrow margin), is the horn. It certainly pushes steering wheel and brakes into third and fourth places, if indeed they rank that highly. The horn is to be used liberally. It means "Hello, how are you", "Watch out, I am here", "Get out of my way", "Goodbye", and any number of other phrases. As a matter of fact, there is no need to use the horn as much as the Syrians do, but if you were to tell them this, no doubt they wouldn’t believe you. It sounds amazing, but the first thing that struck me about central London traffic when I got home from Syria was how quiet it was.

Being beeped at in Syria is nothing personal - this was something I found difficult to get used to. After a while, though, I began to take offence at not being beeped at! I beeped at one person who was standing obliviously in the middle of the road. I then waved apologetically at him. He smiled, and waved back! People who do not use their horns liberally are probably considered dangerous and antisocial. This will include me, as I drove 400km without using my horn, including my drive out of Damascus. Beeping is obviously a matter of habit: by the time I got to Deir ez Zawr, I was getting good at it.

Seat-belts fulfil numerous functions in Syrian cars. They can be removed, to leave attractive holes in the B-pillars of the vehicle. They can be pulled back and attached to the rear grab handles, and then be used to attach decorations, such as flags and pennants. I only saw one Arab using a seat-belt to strap himself into his seat!

Decorations are mandatory in all vehicles, from Bedouin trikes to luxury limousines and buses. These decorations range from prayer beads to flags (Syrian, Palestinian, Lebanese), and, commonly, portraits of the President, and of his son, who died a few years back and was, apparently, incredibly popular. In most photos he looks like the model Latin American dictator.

Another obligatory feature of all cars is a little box in the back playing a horrible electronic version of the Lambada whenever the car is put in reverse. Other musical options do exist, but the Lambada is by far the most popular. And it drove me absolutely up the wall.

I saw a woman driver. It surprised me so much I had to do a double take to be sure that was what I saw.

There must be several unusual criteria for failing the Syrian driving test (if there is such a thing):

In short, the Syrians are several shillings short of a pound when it comes to driving. On the other hand, once you get used to it, it can be quite enjoyable, with levels of freedom unheard of in Europe. All you have to do is remember that you are, at the end of the day, mortal.

Last Updated on 03 November, 1999