If Bahrainis are known internationally for anything, then it is for their natural courtesy and generous hospitality.
So, it is surprising to see the increasing selfishness, rudeness and aggression displayed by many Bahraini drivers on the country's roads.
I am not talking about horn-honking at the traffic lights - that's just a form of expression displayed in the frustration of being stuck in the queue and I am pretty sure there is no rudeness intended.
It does get a bit infuriating though, when the horns go behind you within a split second of the light turning green, particularly as it is always wise to wait a few seconds in case there's a "jumper' coming through.
But sit waiting in a filter lane and there are always those now who drive down the lane for straight on and then cut into the front of the queue. At some junctions, so many try to do this that they tail back and block the other lane as well.
Tailgating has become almost a national pastime for Bahraini drivers (yes, they are the worst culprits) who think their business is more urgent than yours and lane-hopping just to get a few cars ahead appears to have become habitual.
Just the other day, I saw two drivers jostling for pole position at the lights under the Budaiya Burgerland flyover - each pulling forward in turn to try to cut the other off.
One was a grown woman and the other a middle-aged man, both Bahrainis and here they were behaving like children in the tuck shop queue.
Yet few of these people so rude on the road would behave that way in any other situation. In normal life, they are polite, helpful and often generous in ensuring the comfort or convenience of others.
In a classic example, a Bahraini colleague and I approached the narrow gate into our office complex just the other day and he stood aside to let me go through first.
"We have a saying in Arabic, that you always give way to someone coming from the right," he smiled, in reference to the fact that I was walking to the right of him.
What shame that same principle does not apply on the roads.
I am sure that a great many of Bahrain's traffic problems and certainly most of the minor accidents, would be avoided if people took their normally good manners into the car with them.
Manners on the road should, perhaps, be part of the driving instruction manual.
lhorton@gdn.com
