Warning: Avoid Sitra bridge tonight

I'm posting this on the off chance that someone might read it before they go out tonight. Avoid sh. jaber alahmed alsubah highway (aka sitra bridge). There is dead traffic there and cars aren't moving god knows why.
Just stay out of it and use another road.

This will never happen in Bahrain

The picture you see above is of a traffic warden giving a Bugatti Veyron a parking ticket.
For the un-informed, The Bugatti Veyron is a very expensive beast. 16 cylinders, 8 Liter engine, 4 Turbos, 4 Wheel Drive, 1001 Horse Power and only two seats. It goes from 0 - 100 KPH in about 2.5 seconds and costs BD 643000 (around US$ 1,700,000).
And it got a parking ticket. As you can see, crowds of people were surrounding the car which was parked in a no parking zone. And everyone cheered and clapped as the warden wrote the ticket for the millionaire owner, the daily SUN reported.
Do you think it will be treated the same way in Bahrain? Or be able to kill little children and get away with it?

I am ACCUSED! The Pebble of DOOM resurfaces.

I have officially been cited to appear in front of the Sixth Minor Criminal Court. What is the charge? Allegedly, a pebble flew out from my tyre and hit another car's wind shield.
This charge is so bogus and trivial, I cannot believe it is real. You can read about it in the original post here. This was last May.
No I have been cited with the following charges:

1. Caused by mistake to cause damages in properties of others
2. Drove the vehicle while unregistered
3. Did not take utmost care due when driving

Are you laughing yet?
I answer as follows:

1. PROVE IT!
2. Well, it was my mom's car, I had no idea if it was or wasn't registered. The owner of the car should be responsible for that and it is usually a fine not a criminal offense.
3. What on EARTH is the "due care" I should take to stop pebbles from flying off my tyers? Fix a damn Hoover on the front bumper?

I heired the services of Mr. Ziyad Kioumji to represent me in court. It is a full blown court case for a lowly pebble. In his professional opinion, they have no law to stand upon nor they can prove it. He was also alone, No witnesses.

I suspected that this might be actually be a scam. Last May, several police officers called me several times, long phone calls may I add, to try to persuade me to pay BD 10 "for this poor poor man!".
Are they scaring citizens to do so? I swear if it was my mother she'd pay on the spot. But they had to get that stubborn blogger.

My trial is on 11th Dec. @ 9 AM. I am inviting anyone who could use a laugh.

The pebble of DOOM!

Everyone in Bahrain has his own opinion about the Traffic directorate. I appreciate their efforts, they work hard, but still have some reservations.

I however was gob smacked with this.

About two weeks ago, I got out of the house going to the gym. Its about a 3 minute drive or so. I wasn't in a hurry, it was midday, the gym wasn't going to close anytime soon and I had nothing to do that day.
When I pulled over at the gym's car park, another car, which was following me pulled next to me. The driver got out and walked towards me. He said hello, I greeted back. Then he said that a pebble flew from my rear tire and hit his windshield, cracking it. And now he wants me to pay for it!
To be frank, I don't know if he was telling the truth or lying. I heared many tales of guys with cracked windshields doing this to strangers trying to guilt them into paying for the repairs. Even if this did happen, its not really my fault, I cannot control pebbles in the road nor do I know of anyone that can. I abided by the traffic laws in my 3 minute drive and that's it.
I told him I can't help him and he said he'd complain to the traffic police. "suit your self" I said. I didn't think the police would be interested in such a trivial complaint. Boy was I wrong!

On the 8th of may, I got a phone call from the traffic department. The man told me that Someone has filed a complaint against me for breaking his windshield with a flying pebble from my car.
He said: "We get alot of these complaints and you have two options, either pay the man BD 10 (US$ 26.5) or we'll have it brought forward to the prosecution."
I said "Prosecution?"
"yes", he said, "You don't need to go through all that trouble, how about if you just pay that BD 10?"
"NO!", I replied. "I didn't THROW him with a stone, it was a pebble according to his words, which is something I cannot verify happened. Besides even if it did, its not my fault is it? It just happened."

The police man tried to convince me to pay 10 Dinars but I apologized and told him to go ahead and take it to court. Several phone calls were exchanged between me and him (totalling around 5 minutes in total) trying to convince me to yeild but I remained firm.

By the end of the day, a higher official called me
"Hello, I am Ebrahim, your neighbour, how are you?"
I don't know an Ebrahim that is my neighbour... anyway, moving on:
"It seems that you don't want to pay the poor man"
"I am sorry, I have no way to know if he is telling the truth or not, even if, I fail to see how that was a direct cause of my actions"
So he tried to scare me:
"But you know, if it goes to court, they'll just sentence you immediately without your presence then you'll have to pay a fine"
"Excuse me? Why would they sentence me?"
"because your pebble broke the man's windshield"
"First of all how am I to know that this allegation did occur? Can you prove it?"
At first he said no, then quickly said "yes, we have experts that can prove you hit him with a pebble"
"SAY WHAT?" I wasn't born yesterday! Lying blatantly like that was a no no tome. So I started my own attack:
"Look. You'll have to

1. Prove that there actually was a pebble
2. Prove that it did fly off one of MY tires, not someone else's
3. Prove that said pebble hit the plaintiff on his wind shield
4. Prove that the the fracture in the windshield happened because of that pebble and was not there before this "incident"

After proving all that, you need to tell me how was that a result of my actions, then we can talk"

So he said "Yeah, but if it goes to court, the judge will put him under oath and he'll testify. Can you say that this didn't happen in court under oath?"
I said "No, it could have happened"
"AHA!" he goes, "see? then you will lose the trial"
"excuse me"
"yes?"
"If this is going to court, and a judge will pass sentence, can you tell me which article in the law the judge will use?"
"There is no law for that"
"You mean there is no legal article that this falls into?"
"No"
"I'm sorry, but judges cannot pass sentences without a reference to an article in the Bahraini law"
"yes they can"
"No, no, they cannot"
Then he tried to appeal to me through religion:
"Listen, if you pay the man, god will reward you for your deeds inshallah"
"How do you know that?"
"er.. because it's a good thing.. erm.. its better to have injustice fall on you than be a tyrant yourself"
"Oh? So you do acknowledge that it's injustice?"
"well.. umm.. who is to compensate the poor man for this incident?"
"Who will compensate ME for this incident?"
"Your reward will be with Allah, god willing"
"OK, How about this: Let him take the reward from Allah, yeah? I'll keep the BD 10 thank you"
"You don't want to be rewarded in heaven?"
"You see, I don't think Allah will reward me for this, so I guess I'll wait for judgment day and find out"
"It's only 10 Dinars!"
"look, its not a matter of money. In fact, I'll invite you, the other police man, and that accuser to come to my house for lunch and dinner and you are welcome any time, I'll gladly pay for that. But making me pay for such a trivial case, with no legal base by force is unacceptable to me, especially since it was not a result of any controllable factor of my own"
"No one is forcing you to anything, but this is how it is. It's customary that the accused just pays or the court will find you guilty"
"So courts accept these cases?"
"of course"
"So if to say, I go tomorrow and file a similar case against you, they'll accept that also?"
"....!!!"
"Let's assume that 10 people at the same time filed the same case against me, or let us reverse that. I file that case against 10 people individually. Will the court accept such cases?"
"No, of course not!"
"Why not? Do they accept cases on a whim? Ok for some, reject the other?"
"well .. no.."
"LISTEN. They only way you will see 10 dinars coming out of me is for you to go to court. Then they need to prove that there WAS a flying pebble, THEN prove it actually WAS from my tire, THEN prove it actually hit him, THEN prove that the damages were caused by that pebble not before. After all that, they need to prove which articles in the traffic law did I not adhere to which resulted in his damages. If they can not prove that then it's either the fault of the government for not cleaning the streets of pebbles"
"*laughing*.. haha..that's not..."
"OR if it's not the fault of the government it's Allah's doing for creating stones and pebbles in the first place"
"..."
"If by some miracle I was found guilty, then, and only then I will .. appeal. And I will use all of my appeals then if I am still found guilty I will pay the BD 10 plus fines and only then I will wait for my reward from Allah".

".... So that's a no? Is that your final call?"
"I am sorry, please take it to court, and I will wait for your phone call to set a date for when you can grace me with your presence at my home"
".. that's ok.. I'll just forward that accident through and..."
"EXCUSE ME. This is NOT an accident. I did not collide with the plaintiff"
Feeling smug, he answered: "Oh no, we do have a classification for (broken windshield by small stone)"
"Yes, but that is for trucks who do not cover up or seal the rubble they are transporting in which case it IS their fault, not for civilian sedans with pebbles flying off on your roads"
"That's OK, thank you"


This whole thing took 23 minutes. After that call, I started to think that this might actually be a scam. Someone with friends in the traffic department are scaring people for BD 10 a pop. Good income. No paper work. Who'd know?
I am not saying that this is the case, but it makes you suspicious doesn't it? If any government official is interested in investigating the matter I can give them more details and phone numbers if they get in touch with me.

Tell me, what do YOU think?