Leaving an airport, you are greeted by a group of Saudis, young and old, offering their help and asking to drive you to your destination in their private cars. The fare charged is similar to, if not lower than, the fare charged by taxis. Most Saudis, however, refuse to go with their fellow citizens and engage a foreign driver instead. It is a sad scene that is very common at our airports. What is it that makes us refuse to get into a car driven by a Saudi and hire taxis driven by foreigners?
There are many reasons given for such behavior. Some accuse Saudi drivers of being arrogant, talking too much and sticking his nose into matters that have nothing to do with him. Others say he is irresponsible and inconsiderate. Recently I heard among the accusations that Saudi drivers are seldom conscious or in total command of themselves. How serious are these accusations? Is what we hear no more than an isolated case or is it a phenomenon that is being generalized to blacken an entire people?
I will not seek here to answer these questions but I will refer to the result of a recently published questionnaire involving Saudi drivers. The study found that more and more Saudi women teachers prefer to be taken to work with a Saudi driver, especially an older one. The teachers cited security and safety as their main reasons, saying they feel more secure with a Saudi driver than with a foreigner. They said they don’t feel secure with a foreign driver, especially at night.
The drivers questioned said they had been contracted not only to take teachers from home to school and back but also to drive the family on social visits, when going shopping or to amusement parks as well as to other places. The families trust these drivers as they would their fathers and the women say idle young Saudi men will not dare to harass them if they are in a car driven by a Saudi.
One women said when the car driven by her Saudi driver was involved in an accident, the driver stopped a taxi and accompanied the woman back to her home before returning to look after his damaged car. She wondered if a foreign driver would have done the same.
We need to judge Saudi drivers individually without relying on stereotyped ideas, beliefs and prejudices. Sooner or later the Saudization of taxi drivers will take place and all we will need then is legal and administrative rules to guarantee the rights of both drivers and passengers.
