I support Women2Drive...BUT BUT BUT...

I openly admit that I'm all for women driving in Saudi Arabia, however, I will not be amongst those who are brave enough to drive, for the simple reason I'm a driver who can drive only where there are proper rules for drivers and those who don't abide it are penalised severely (like in Dubai). But a year and a half of living and seeing the driving in this country, I'm more than glad to take the back seat. Not to mention I have no intention of having pathetic losers follow me home and wait for me like a prey.

To summarise I'm all for women driving but personally speaking I have other reasons to not  drive here. Whenever and if ever the streets of Saudi Arabia become safe for 'safe and careful' drivers like me I might reconsider until then I will let my husband and taxi drivers brave the streets of this country or more so Riyadh.

That said I do mirror the sentiments of all those women who struggle on a daily basis to get anywhere in this city (or other cities). From dropping and picking children, to picking up grocery, to even managing emergency situations, we have to depend on our husbands, fathers, brothers or otherwise cabbie drivers. Not all of us can afford the luxury of having a personal driver like the Saudis can, but hey when did we expats ever be counted or appreciated for anything that we've done in the Gulf Countries. It is sad indeed that we cannot even be pardoned for taking to the wheel in an emergency situation. What if the sole driver in the house (for example a husband or a father) got a heart-attack at 1am in the wee hours of the morning, does this country honestly expect the woman to just sit and wait or hail a cab at that hour! I'm sure the woman will get an ambulance or a cabbie by the time he is dead! I wish the Saudis who impose these rules would sometime step into a woman's shoe and see the choices we have to make.