Convoys, checkpoints create traffic chaos

The Baghdad traffic was at a standstill.
Cars, trucks and minibuses lined bumper-to-bumper from each direction of the crossroads as frazzled policemen tried to ease the jam with little success.
Horns, dust and frustrated sighs merged into one as thousands of drivers and their passengers sat motionless in what has become a typical scene of mayhem on the streets of the Iraqi capital.
Checkpoints cut across all main roads in Baghdad, manned by soldiers or policemen who scan the traffic for possible car bombs. A spike in attacks at the end of September prompted the authorities to step up their monitoring.
In addition, guards have been given new explosive-detecting gadgets, which look like a cross between a gun and a small drill.
They walk down the side of each vehicle, holding the contraption out in front. It is supposed to signal the presence of TNT but unfortunately has been known to be set off by strong perfume.
The tighter checks mean traffic must wait longer, much to everyone’s frustration.
Other delay-factors include US military or diplomatic convoys, which close down whole sections of road to allow a diplomat or military official to go to a meeting. Iraqi Government convoys of SUVs, equipped with flashing red-and-blue lights and loud sirens, also cause havoc, taking over entire lanes as they charge past.
I was a casualty of a checkpoint-convoy combo this morning as I headed to a press conference at the Iraqi National Museum.

We had been told to arrive by 10am. I dutifully left my hotel at just gone 9.15am, thinking that would leave plenty of time.
Forty-five minutes later my staff and I were stuck in an impossible clot of cars, moving at about 1 mile an hour, if that.
US and Iraqi military vehicles had closed the road ahead to enable the American and Iraqi officials who were giving the conference to access the museum.
We tried a number of different routes to no avail, checkpoints and rush-hour traffic had also helped to turn the centre of the city into a chaotic carnival of cars.
Panicked about being late, the only thing to do was walk – not ideal, given the security risks, but I was fairly well disguised in Iraqi clothes so would not stand out as a foreigner.
It was actually quite interesting to weave down a number of residential side streets, overlooked by dirty blocks of apartments.
At one point we hailed a clapped-out taxi to take advantage of a gap in the traffic, but gave up on that option within minutes after we ran into another queue.
We eventually turned up at the museum, slightly out of breath, a mere half an hour late. Thankfully the press conference did not start until 11.30.
The traffic was still bad this afternoon so I stopped to ask a few anguished drivers what it was like to travel around Baghdad.
“I feel very bad,” said Muqtad Abid Ali, a 42-year-old shop owner who had just spent an hour making a journey that should take 5 minutes.
His brother, Khalid, said the traffic affects everyone’s ability to work because people arrive late to their job exhausted.
“We should start work at 8am, but turn up at 10am with our nerves frayed,” the 36-year-old said. He works at the same shop as his brother.
A minibus packed with passengers was travelling to one end of Baghdad, a journey that should take an hour but currently takes three.
“It is because of the checkpoints,” said Adil Kassim Mahmood, 37, the driver of the bus. “There were no traffic jams before the invasion.”
Another reason for the busy roads is the huge influx of cars that occurred after the 2003 war, when Iraqis became free to buy imported vehicles – a purchase that had been restricted during Saddam Hussein’s time.

[Picture 1: View from my car of the traffic;
Picture 2: Me abandoning my car and setting of on foot;
Picture 3: Roads shut down outside the Iraqi National Museum;
Picture 4: A side-street I walked down;
Picture 5: More traffic.]

Comments

[Adam]

Interesting how no American folk can be moved to comment on this article not violent enough for you?.......

[GBS]

Things must be looking up if traffic in Baghdad is the headline of the day.

Good for Iraq, good for us.

[GBS]

Oh, Adam, I'm American. Surprising enough for you?

[RiskManager]

They are free to buy cars. Adam is horified. Look at Adam's morality everyone. Then think about what you have said about all this freedom that now is causing traffic chaos in Baghdad.

Bring back Saddam and get Baghdad moving eh Adam?

[Andy C]

Why take a dig at the yanks?? They may not be perfect (who is) but I would MUCH rather see the Americans keeping idiots across the globe in check than the closed countries such as China or Russia ruling the roost.

It would be great if Europe could step up to the plate but that's never going to happen.

I for one am quietly pleased that America exists and shields alot of the world from crazy statesmen.

To my American friends, please remember that those who shout loudest on forums such as these do not necessarily represent the views of the average Briton.

[Aimen]

you look great in "Hijab"
Wish you all the best in covering the daily details of Iraq