I like Aramco's idea of training Saudi women, not to drive cars (God forbid!), but to make them “positive passengers”. As we are the only country in the world which prevents women from practicing their God-given right to drive cars, our training sessions on becoming positive passengers will definitely be unparalleled in the universe. There is a great need for positive passenger training programs for women. Some Saudi women passengers confuse the driver by asking him at the last minute to turn left or right. “Turn right…no, no… turn left… listen… you better go straight ahead,” they may say to the Pakistani, Filipino or Bangladeshi house driver. The poor man will be so distracted that he will not know where he is going. Some Saudi women engage in nagging even while sitting comfortably in the passenger seat beside their husbands. These training sessions will, therefore, focus on the importance of keeping silent while the husband or the house driver is behind the wheel so as not to distract them. The training instructors, or rather preachers, will need to play on the emotions of women trainees by telling them passionate stories about the benefits of being a positive passenger. Because I expect these training sessions, which are entirely a Saudi invention, to achieve resounding success, I suggest that they should be made more widely available. We should ask the instructors of the Dallah school who teach driving to organize similar training sessions for men in each and every region of the Kingdom. It would also be useful if sessions were held in all girls' schools and colleges. The successful passing of the training course should also be mandatory for all women teachers who travel hundreds of kilometers going from their homes to their schools and back every day. No female schoolteacher should be allowed to get onto the bus without showing a certificate that she has successfully completed the training course and that she has been certified as a “positive passenger”. Without such a certificate, she will have no other option except to travel to school on foot or by riding a donkey or to quit her job. Indeed, limousine and bus drivers should be told not to transport any woman if she does not show a certificate that she has successfully passed the positive passenger training program. Men and women who come to our country for Haj, Umrah, or to work or visit will not find cars to transport them if they do not show proof that they are certified positive passengers. Indeed, Saudi diplomatic missions abroad should be instructed not to grant entry visas without having received a copy of this certificate. Such training programs will also provide our country with an economic benefit. Many countries will ask us to supply them with qualified positive passenger trainers because they will only be available in our country. We can decide to supply such trainers for a fee or free of charge to augment our relationship with certain countries. The unemployment problem will also be solved as businessmen will rush to set up positive passenger training centers, which will require a large number of employees and instructors. Construction companies will also benefit because they will be needed to build these schools. And, of course, there will be a reduction in traffic accidents. When women become positive passengers, drivers will not commit traffic violations because they will be able to concentrate on driving. It has been reported that traffic accidents in the Kingdom decreased by three percent last year. The positive passenger program is expected to reduce these accidents by up to 90 percent in the next two or three years. However, the greatest benefit from establishing the positive passenger program is that it will silence those who criticize us for not allowing Saudi women to drive their own cars. We will be able to ask them bluntly, “Which is more important: allowing women to drive their own cars or teaching them to be positive passengers?”
