Chocoholic wrote:Well on the verge of the French government voting whether to ban the burka in public places next week, a woman has been fined for driving in one, with the police officer saying that her field of vision was impaired by the garment. Now she wants to sue the police force over it! Typical.
Sadly I might have to agree with the police on this particular issue in certain circumstances.
I was witness one night to a scene I think I have described here before - a fully blacked out SUV pulling into an EPPCO near Mirdif one night, lights off, driving incredibly slowly. It by-passed the pumps and literally bumped up the kerb outside the shop and stopped with the bumper resting against the glass!
It just sat there for quite a while until one of the pump attendants asked a local guy to check out the driver. He finally got them to open the door and it turned out to be a local lady with her face completely covered...and wearing sunglasses over the top!!!
Apparently she had driven all the way from Abu Dhabi like this. Totally blacked out windows. At night. No lights. Full face cover. And sunglasses!
Apparently she had taken her brothers car without his permission and had no driving license. She had arranged a secret 'tryst' with a local in Dubai and thought that if she covered up this way, then no-one would be able to see who she was as she had been told there were 'cameras' on the road between Abu Dhabi and Dubai!
OK this is an extreme example, however I have lot count of the number of times I have had to take avoiding action because a covered lady has pulled out or changed lanes without looking, or if she did, without seeing exactly what was coming. On a bike, this can be a little disconcerting. The ladies in question all seemed to be highly surprised when I was able to catch their attention and indicate (by the usual method of pointing two fingers at my eyes!) that they should look.
I will not single out covered ladies in this as it is quite a common occurrence for all drivers. Particularly those in: Nissan Tiida, Toyota Yaris, Hyundai Elantra and Honda Accords!
Knight