I READ Ali’s letter as he seemed somewhat disgusted that Bahrain’s roads are not on a par with the standards of the roads he recently saw in Germany, ‘On the road’ (GDN, August 14).

There is a very easy explanation for this and all it takes is one word to get the message across: “Tax.”

Tax on cars, tax on petrol and annual road tax. I cannot speak for Germany, but if the UK is anything to go by, these taxes are extortionate.

Taking into account the vast tax income that supports Germany’s road maintenance and infrastructure improvement plans, it’s hardly an “apples to apples” comparison, is it?

So, what you are really doing is asking the question: “Would our roads be as good as theirs if Bahrain adopted a taxation policy on cars, petrol and also introduced an annual road tax in line with what Europeans pay?”

Please don’t give the government ideas Ali. I’m sure you would not want to add thousands of dinars to your annual motoring expenses, would you?

But the main reason the roads in Germany are so much better than they are here has nothing to do with the road conditions.

It’s because the standard of driving and common courtesy on roads is so much higher, it’s a night and day comparison.

It’s hardly helping Bahrain’s maintenance budget when it seems a huge chunk of it is being spent on repairing perfectly good infrastructure just because of some idiot that cannot drive.

I know that sounds a bit harsh, but these reports of accidents always lay the blame at “losing control” when the truth is the vast majority of accidents in Bahrain are caused by people driving like morons with no respect for their own lives and, most importantly, their passengers and other road users.

You could have a war chest of billions for road improvements in Bahrain, but that will not improve the general driving standards and until we can sort that out, I don’t think we deserve European standard roads.

J