Ladies' Parking Only

Today's UAE paper, The National, features an article explaining that six parking garages in Abu Dhabi will now feature parking spaces reserved for women only. These spots have been added for safety reasons in garages that get dangerously dark at night. The law is also meant to make life easier for women caring for young children. [Click here to read the article.]

Evidently the Transport Department is adding 75,000 parking spaces over the next several years. Parking has been largely unregulated up until now, so the city is just starting to add meters and rules. For example, it's typical to see cars parked down the middle of the street-- such as the scene from my apartment this evening:

I wasn't planning on getting a car here anytime soon, but with policies like this I might need to reconsider... just don't ask me how they expect to enforce this new law!