Saudi Arabia’s ban on female drivers has prompted some pretty outrageous justifications-and that was before last weekend’s demonstrations, in which 60 women got behind the wheel in a rolling protest.
One leading Saudi cleric argued that women ran the risk of damaging their ovaries and pelvises when they drove cars, increasing the possibility of giving birth to children with “clinical problems.”
But perhaps none of these reasons are more ludicrous than the one charging that female drivers would increase car accidents.
The Kingdom actually has one of the planet’s worst safety records. Indeed, the biggest argument against the ban could be Saudi drivers’ atrociously high road accident death toll, consistently rating among the highest in the world.
According to the most recent World Health Organization figures, Saudi Arabia has the 21st-highest road-related death toll in the world.
A 2013 study by the Kingdom’s General Directorate of Traffic found that 19 people die per day in traffic-related fatalities in Saudi Arabia. The biggest reason for the high rates is simply reckless driving-the report has found in past years that a third of all car accidents in the Kingdom are cause by drivers jumping red lights, and 18 percent were caused by illegal u-turns.
At least 16 women have been fined for defying the ban on driving in Saudi Arabia in recent demonstrations, but a post on the campaign’s Facebook page vowed that women in the country would keep up the protest. A Saudi woman who was filmed driving during the demonstrations told Reuters, “Yesterday there were lots of police cars so I didn’t take the risk. I only took the wheel for a few minutes. Today I drove and nobody stopped me. For sure I will drive every day doing my normal tasks.”
If the current state of driving in Saudi Arabia is any indication, that kind of resolve from other women might be the best thing for the country’s public safety.
Editorial, Pages 14 on 10/31/2013