JEDDAH, 23 April 2006 — Modern life is hectic, and it is easy to get distracted. Sometimes people get so engrossed in their thoughts that they become isolated — almost as if they were on another planet. There is nothing wrong with being deep in thought or even being a bit absent-minded — provided you are not driving at the time.

Al-Nadwa Arabic daily recently took a look at the ever-important issue of paying attention while you drive. Some of the incidents it uncovered were amusing; sadly, some could have resulted in tragic accidents, and that is no laughing matter.

Saudi motorist Zahed Al-Ahmadi said that being absent-minded behind the wheel can be as dangerous as talking on a cell phone. At any rate, it certainly can dampen your enthusiasm.

“I was driving to work on a busy morning in Makkah,” Al-Ahmadi said. “That day was special for me because I was about to get a promotion on the job from the company manager. I started drawing a picture in my mind of me standing in front of the company board members receiving an award for my hard work and listening to all their compliments. I was smiling about this mental picture, but the smile soon turned into a look of terror when I slammed into the back of a water truck. My car was badly damaged, but I escaped with minor injuries. I shouldn’t have been daydreaming on a busy street.”

It is good to be concerned with the welfare of others, and many people wrest with the problems of friends. If you do it while you are driving, you may find it can create bigger problems for you. At least that is what happened to Egyptian Nurudeen Saeed when he tried to help a friend in need.

“I was traveling at a high speed down King Fahd Road thinking about his problem,” said Saeed. “This problem so occupied my mind that I wasn’t paying attention to what was going on around me. Suddenly, I woke up to find myself in the middle of a huge pack of traffic coming from the left side. This was because I had run through a red light without even realizing there was a traffic light. I was nearly hit by a large truck, and I managed to escape collision, but I crashed on the sidewalk.”

Saeed now saves his deep thinking for his non-highway time.

“People stopped their cars to check if I was fine,” he said. “I wasn’t at all fine because I saw death that day. I can’t believe what happened, and whenever I think about it I feel scared. All drivers should give their full attention to the road and leave the daydreaming at home.”

Sometimes it is important to pay careful attention to your surroundings even when you are waiting at a traffic light.

Mohsin Abdul Sattar was returning home after a day at work when he stopped at a traffic light and began to recall one of those funny things that sometimes happen on the job.

It was so funny that the 29-year-old driver started smiling and laughing as he thought about the incident. He smiled right up until the moment he noticed that someone was pounding on his window with a shoe. It was an angry husband who mistook the young man’s mindless grin as an attempt to smile at his wife.

“I tried to explain to the husband that I was not smiling at his wife but about a funny situation that happened at work,” Abdul Sattar said. “He didn’t believe me, and I think I made the matter worse because he thought that I was making fun of him. It added more fuel to the fire.”

The imagined insult led to some real injury.

“I got my share of a beating before bystanders separated me from the angry husband,” Abdul Sattar said. “I learned my lesson that a driver should be more focused on the road and leave the daydreaming back home. When encountering a funny situation, it is best to look down and laugh.”

Eyes forward; hands on the wheel; cell phone off and careful attention to the business of driving will make the roadways safer for you and everybody else around you.