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1st Sgt Welsh
Joined: 13 Dec 2010
Posts: 946
Location: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
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grahamb
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Posts: 1945
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 Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 9:53 am Post subject: Vroom! Vroom! |
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| In my nine years in Oman I never felt the urge to get behind the wheel. This was due largely to the kamikaze style of many Omani drivers. It always tickled me when Omanis blamed Indians for causing road accidents. |
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1st Sgt Welsh
Joined: 13 Dec 2010
Posts: 946
Location: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
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| Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 10:39 am Post subject: Re: Vroom! Vroom! |
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| grahamb wrote: |
| It always tickled me when Omanis blamed Indians for causing road accidents. |
Yep. I've driven motorbikes throughout India, Nepal and Sri Lanka and never had a drama. However, I wouldn't fancy driving a motorbike on the highways here and that's not because of the migrant workers from South Asia. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 4:12 pm Post subject: Re: Vroom! Vroom! |
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| grahamb wrote: |
| In my nine years in Oman I never felt the urge to get behind the wheel. This was due largely to the kamikaze style of many Omani drivers. It always tickled me when Omanis blamed Indians for causing road accidents. |
And the Omanis are the safest of the Gulf drivers... scary as that thought is. But they all blame the problems on the expats... seems to be a tradition.
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madrileno
Joined: 19 Aug 2010
Posts: 270
Location: Salalah, Oman
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 12:56 pm Post subject: |
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After discussing this with some Omani coworkers, their consensus is this targeted towards sub-continentals.
The rules for Western expats will continue as they are... |
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1st Sgt Welsh
Joined: 13 Dec 2010
Posts: 946
Location: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 2:35 pm Post subject: |
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| madrileno wrote: |
After discussing this with some Omani coworkers, their consensus is this targeted towards sub-continentals.
The rules for Western expats will continue as they are... |
Geez, I can't help but feel sorry for those guys and that would explain why some in the article were trying to make a link between the amount of salary and driving. Just by the by, when I was in the UAE a couple of months ago, all the taxis I caught had drivers from the sub-continent and, without exception, they were all fine. I certainly had better experiences with them than the Omani taxis I've caught here.
Anyway, if they are not going to recognize drivers' licenses from South Asia then I at least hope they will give the affected migrants a chance to sit the same test as the locals and get an Omani license that way. God knows, the practical can't be that hard  . Not sure how it would work if the theory component is in written Arabic though, but, there would be ways around that. However. arguably, if they did do this then that would defeat the whole supposed purpose of the proposed changes; namely, to get cars off the road  .
I must say that the traffic I've experienced in Muscat has been pretty bad and Salalah has its moments as well. I've heard quite a bit of talk about introducing rail and, whilst I know there are mini van taxis around, I can't personally see what would be wrong with starting up some local bus routes. I can think of quite a few people I know who would use them if they were available. |
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EFL Educator
Joined: 17 Jul 2013
Posts: 988
Location: Cape Town
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| Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 2:52 pm Post subject: |
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I have always used my international drivers license whilst driving and renting a car in Oh Man....and Oh Man it has been quite an adventure.....Muscrat traffic is the worst...especially in the Ruwi area.but in Sohar it is doable and I enjoy it!  |
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1st Sgt Welsh
Joined: 13 Dec 2010
Posts: 946
Location: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 3:10 pm Post subject: |
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What the heck is a "drum and slope" test?
VS |
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 4:11 am Post subject: |
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I still don't know what they are... or why? LOL
Is this something the Omanis invented just to have a reason to fail those that they wish to fail?
VS |
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1st Sgt Welsh
Joined: 13 Dec 2010
Posts: 946
Location: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
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| Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 7:45 am Post subject: |
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| veiledsentiments wrote: |
| I still don't know what they are... or why? LOL |
The 'slope test' is arguably useful for testing a driver's ability to do a controlled hill start. We had [and probably still have] something very similar in the driving test I did many, many moons ago back in Australia. I can't say that I've done anything like the 'drum test' though, but, my motorbike exam in Vietnam did involve riding around some witches hats for ninety seconds. That was pretty much the entire test . |
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parched
Joined: 02 Jul 2015
Posts: 18
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1st Sgt Welsh
Joined: 13 Dec 2010
Posts: 946
Location: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
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| Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 11:58 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks for the post and link parched, that's interesting. I have an expat friend who got her driver's license here recently (she didn't have one before). I might ask her a bit more about it when I next see her and hear what her thoughts on the driving test were....... |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 4:10 pm Post subject: |
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Since 90+% of cars in the US have an automatic transmission, wouldn't need that test. I just read the last link and find its process totally bizarre. One shouldn't be using the parking brake if you are at a light on a hill. I drove a manual for many years and that is just silly. It just gives you something extra to do that gives them an easy way to fail you.
Back when I took my first test, they required that you parallel park between two cars on the street - both on the flat... and on a hill... and they decided whether you had to be parking uphill or downhill. Even back in those prehistoric times, I had an automatic. I'd only been driving for 4 days and I passed it with those big old American cars. LOL
Just skimming I couldn't quite figure out what they had to do with those barrels in the first link. Presumably NOT run into them while doing whatever the tester says. The last link shows that it is basically just showing that they can back into a parking space... easy stuff.
Most people that I talked to took a few tries to pass the exam in Oman.
VS |
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