WITNESS - A drive in Dubai

Amran Abocar is Canadian treasury editor, based in Toronto. A Somali-Canadian citizen, she has worked for Reuters since 1998 and is temporarily based in Dubai. In the following story she recounts experiences of the roads in the most congested city in the Middle East.

By Amran Abocar

DUBAI (Reuters) - It takes a certain mindset to drive in Dubai: a take-no-prisoners attitude coupled with nerves of steel.

This Gulf city, which boasts stunning wealth and spectacular skyscrapers, is also home to an alarmingly large number of suicidal drivers, and one of them was at the wheel of my taxi as we careened off a Dubai highway and onto a side road.

"It is very safe to drive," said Mohammad as he ignored a stop sign in a dusty construction area and flung us onto a mercifully quiet roundabout.

Asked whether he had been in many accidents, he replied: "Never. But I hit somebody, maybe one or two times, not serious."

Apparently neither incident was bad enough to merit attention from either the police or his cab company, a fact that has only emboldened his Formula One instincts.

Dubai was last year named the most congested city in the Middle East, in a study which found commuters spend nearly two hours in their cars each day, often in heavy traffic.

Some experts say the congestion that jams the streets could dent the city's aspirations to extend its role from star of the wealthy Gulf region into global business hub.