JEDDAH, 18 May 2005 — Don’t drive without insurance. It seems like such logical and sensible advice, but in Saudi Arabia, where renewal notifications are rarely mailed out and insurance companies go out of business overnight leaving their customers stranded, some who think they are insured are not — and when they crash as uninsured motorists, end up in custody.

This report is being written in jail. The guards told me to hold on to my laptop bag because they didn’t want to be responsible for it.

On my way to the Arab News staff meeting in the morning, I rear-ended another car. The other party, the traffic police and myself, were all in agreement that I was 100 percent at fault. Happy that no one was injured, we made our way to the police station where it was discovered that my insurance had expired. I was immediately arrested.

There was no negotiating my way out of this police encounter. My requests to be allowed to go to the bank to withdraw money to pay for the accident were denied and suddenly I wasn’t free to leave.

Much like the others that are here, I cannot help myself. I have to depend on other people to get me out of a situation that I got myself into. Fortunately my family is just a phone call away and my freedom is guaranteed within hours. But for many others who are uninsured and who are abandoned by their sponsors or cannot arrange for the funds from jail, their incarceration is going to be lengthy, with an eventual transfer to the courts and Briman prison after several weeks.

What I can’t get out of my mind is how everything just went south so quickly. One minute I was harassing the policeman to finish the paperwork before prayer time, and the next I was pleading with him to go pray. “I need an hour and I’ll be back with cash,” I told him. Guess he had heard that one too many times before, because here I am typing away with two inmates looking over my shoulder.

After exploring this three-bedroom apartment — which was converted into one big jail cell — complete with cockroaches, inadequate air conditioning, and filthy toilet — I find myself frustrated and angry, with nothing to kill but time. “I can’t believe my insurance expired,” is constantly in my head.

The right calls have already been made, but the banks aren’t going to be open for another four and a half hours. Why isn’t there an ATM here?

One 21-year-old Saudi has been here for 11 days. He crashed into and injured another driver. He had never bothered to purchase insurance and is now being held indefinitely until his debts are paid.

Another man, a Sri Lankan, bought insurance from Saudi Aman Insurance Company. He showed me his insurance card which is still valid. “The police said this company went out of business. They said this card is no good,” he told me.

Perhaps the most outrageous story is that of Niaz Ali. If what he is saying is true and can be verified, it shows that anyone’s life can be turned completely upside down in a matter of seconds. His problems would be far fewer had he been insured. Now he sits in limbo in jail until someone decides how they are going to handle the blood money issue.

Niaz Ali is a bearded graying Pakistani in his late fifties. Holding his prayer beads, he told me his story. When his car broke down, he pulled over to the side of the road, past the yellow line which marks the service lane. He got out of the car with his family and was awaiting help, when a Saudi driver in his early 30’s somehow sideswiped Niaz’s unoccupied and broken-down car.

The man lost control, and went down an embankment, his car rolling over several times over a distance of 150 meters. He was killed. Now Niaz or someone has to come up with SR100,000 to secure Niaz’s freedom. It was his sixth day in jail.

I have heard several sad and unbelievable stories that are totally nightmarish in the couple of hours I was inside. In retrospect, everyone here agrees that their problems would be solved if someone were to cover the costs of their accidents.

That’s what insurance is for. Possessing a valid insurance card from an accredited insurance provider is much the same as having a “get out of jail for free” card. No insurance in Saudi Arabia equals jail; insurance equals freedom.

Most license or “rukhsa” insurance costs less than SR500 per year and covers your liability in the event of an accident up to several hundred thousand riyals. It is a wise investment that buys you peace of mind while on the road and guarantees your freedom in the event of an accident.