Driving in Dubai

Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost

Erol Ozan

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It was the taxis that made me think that driving would be impossible here. We used them a lot in those first few days and I sat nervously in the back, watching the tall buildings rush by and witnessing manoeuvres that I knew I would never attempt. I was aware that the longer I left it, the more impossible it would seem, so on the third day I hired a little Chevrolet Spark, buckled the children in the back and set off to see if I could drive to the local supermarket and back without incident.

Now, hundreds of, not uneventful, kilometres later I feel quite at ease on the roads of the Emirates. These are my tips:

Drive on the right, unless you are a gardener on a bicycle.

Sat Nav, Google maps, Waze or all three at once.

Mirror, mirror, mirror, signal, mirror, mirror, mirror, manoeuvre

Be a middle lane driver on the highway

Don’t be in a rush

Take the wrong exit and expect to have a 12km detour to get back on track

A decent stopping gap will be filled by a car, or a bus

Consider joining all the SUVs skipping the traffic jams by bashing across the sand

Keep the fuel tank topped up

Keep calm