The pilot was held for two hours, and his car was emptied and searched. His “offense” was obeying traffic rules.
“I had noticed a gray car following me for some five kilometers from the west end of Tahlia Street staying a few car lengths behind me,” said Amad (name changed), a Saudi national. “I thought it odd as he was making no effort to pass while the usual stream of cars was overtaking me on both sides of the road.” The end to the procession came when Amad slowed at a traffic light that was on amber and then stopped at red.
The driver of the car, a Toyota Camry, pulled Amad over to one side and the young policeman demanded identification. He also initially refused to answer repeated requests about the reason for the detention and finally told Amad that he had been stopped for competent and courteous driving.
“He said that I must have been hiding something because I was following the traffic rules,” Amad said. Another six police cars arrived over a two-hour period and the pilot’s car was emptied and meticulously searched.
He was eventually allowed to proceed to work with no apology or further explanation and transfer his competent and courteous driving skills to his allotted Boeing 777 airliner.
Had Amad not arrived for duty early, the domino effect of his absence would have delayed several hundred passengers and caused a rescheduling of air traffic movement at considerable expense and disruption to the airline.
“I have been a pilot for 20 years plus and following procedures for road traffic or air traffic is second nature to me,” Amad said. “I am pretty sure that my passengers and crew would prefer that I display level-headed and safe procedures rather than the kind of maneuvers I normally see on the roads.”
A new level of enforcement of traffic rules was recently introduced in Jeddah. Automatic ticketing via camera and computers for speeding and running red lights has been announced but the police cruiser with a human observer is still at the front line.
