Camel catastrophe
Many sandlanders drive in a sense of fear along desert highways such as the Hatta road, in case a stray camel runs from behind a dune into their car and dies. According to expat urban legend, a camel costs twice the blood money of a human (which is Dh200,000), and it is always the motorist's fault.
Not quite true, going by this recent court case:
"A UAE national was fined dhs400 for running over a camel in an accident in Ras Al-Khaima, a report said. RAK traffic court fined the 28-year-old man, identified only as MM, for killing the camel and allowed the owner to file a civil case for compensation, Al Bayan reported. The man was driving his car recklessly in October when he hit the camel. The camel’s 61-year-old owner was fined dhs200 for failing to look after the animal."
While it's possible that this was a prime racing camel worth several million, chances are the final tab will come in at significantly less than 400k. Which frankly should be split between the motorist and the owner, if he was also judged negligent, but the vagaries of UAE law are generally beyond mortal understanding.
Not quite true, going by this recent court case:
"A UAE national was fined dhs400 for running over a camel in an accident in Ras Al-Khaima, a report said. RAK traffic court fined the 28-year-old man, identified only as MM, for killing the camel and allowed the owner to file a civil case for compensation, Al Bayan reported. The man was driving his car recklessly in October when he hit the camel. The camel’s 61-year-old owner was fined dhs200 for failing to look after the animal."
While it's possible that this was a prime racing camel worth several million, chances are the final tab will come in at significantly less than 400k. Which frankly should be split between the motorist and the owner, if he was also judged negligent, but the vagaries of UAE law are generally beyond mortal understanding.
5 Comments:
I remember when I was younger I saw a picture that showed how especially dangerous hitting a camel is - in a car, hitting a camel means hitting its legs and then their body smashes onto the windshield. Thats probably why most speed demon locals prefer SUV's nowadays.
As far as I know in Saudi, and probably here in UAE, hitting a camel from 6 AM to 6 PM is the motorist fault, and from 6 PM to 6 AM is the owner’s fault. This is what I heard in KSA and I don’t know if it’s official. So probably this accident happened at night.
@ the Kaapi Editor: LOL. We are getting into our SUVs right now and going camel humping! eeerrr..hunting.
I can confirm that, in Qatar at least, hitting a camel on the road at night was judged by the Constabulary to be the owner's fault.
Read what happened to me here. As shaper85 says, the animal's body slides up the car bonnet and in through the windscreen. I was lucky in that in my case it was a glancing blow. The camel hit the door pillar and went over the roof.
Who's talking about stroking a Bedu prince at midnight..?
I guess thats one way to have an "accident"
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