This video is ~7 minutes of pure horror to anybody into traffic management. A Lebanese YouTuber (Nash Suleiman) recorded his journey in and out of Beirut (from and to Choueifat as it shows) and documented the violations people and himself do everyday.
This video also incidentally proves that relying on the new traffic law alone to reduce road accidents is utter bullshit. As Nash mentioned at the end, safer roads is a responsibility that each and everyone of us has to bear.
I really hate to be a party pooper, but as I much as I like the city of Tripoli and love spending time there, I didn’t feel much excited about that new bike near the International Fair.
To start with, I personally love biking and I imagine a ride across Tripoli would be so fun to do since it’s a relatively small city with many interesting places to see, without forgetting the tasty stuff you’ll find whether from food and drink carts or small shops everywhere.
That being said, the initiative of introducing a bike lane sounds like a pretty good move and I hope it gets implemented in other areas around the city as well. But before we all get hyped can we question whether people will actually respect it or not?
So yes basically unless we start respect the basic driving rules in Lebanon I see the new line totally useless. Until then, ride safely!
Earlier this month I got a media kit about the new Mini Cooper 2015 models. And being a fan of Mini ever since I was a little kid, I thought of checking with Bassoul Heniene if they have a car available for a weekend test-drive, and luckily enough I was driving one following a few calls.
I actually got the traditional two-door hatchback. And the minute I picked it up I knew I’ll be in for a fun weekend. Just like all its predecessors, the 2015 Mini maintains a young cheerful look, and I was quite thrilled with its driving experience.
I personally think what distinguishes the Mini from other hatchback cars is the playful design inside out. The 2015 model got some minor makeover especially with the taillights which no longer look very rectangular, but other elements such as the grille and oval lights remained unchanged. So there’s no dramatic changes here but rest assured the car will keep on turning heads on the street.
And to complement the body look, I found the interior to be trimmed with good materials. It actually looks appealing with some cool details like a ring of led lights around the central display that changes colors according to your driving style.
The base model I had included the following features: automatic headlights, rain-sensing windshield wipers, a six-speaker audio system, an auxiliary audio input, Bluetooth, a climate-controlled glove box, and steering wheel-mounted audio controls.
The driving position feels commanding with a wider viewing angle than other cars. However, while it felt relatively spacious up front, the rear seats seemed sufficient for children and short people. I also tried to mount my kid’s car seat but he ended up with his legs almost touching my back. But that was the two-door version at the end.
It’s fun, so fun actually! I personally love to be in total control of the car when driving. That’s why I find some cars like Mercedes to be somehow boring. I mean regardless of the top speed you can reach with some cars, you feel like they’re guiding you and not the way around, but that’s not the case with a Mini. The comparison might sound a bit weird, but with control and fun I was having it felt more like I was playing with an RC car!
The Mini has three driving modes that you can choose from: Green, Mid, and Sport. The green and mid modes are fuel efficient and best suitable for driving in the city and when stuck in traffic. The sport mode on the other hand is much more fun, and you’ll get to feel how responsive the car becomes once you switch to it.
I was eventually driving in sport mode most of the time, and I can assure the turbocharged 1.5L engine did deliver! The car acceleration was pretty impressive and the whole driving experience was pretty thrilling due to the sharp handling and responsive steering you will feel, and that’s only the base model, so I wonder how S model or even the John Cooper Works will feel! Needless to say, driving back my original car didn’t feel very good!
It’s worth noting that the Mini has a start-stop function that automatically shuts down the engine when the car is not moving in order to reduce fuel consumption.
As I said before, it’s a fun car, but everything comes with a price. The model I had (1.5L two-door hatchback) is priced at $31,500 which is relatively high for a hatchback car… But is it worth every cent? Damn yes. Actually If I had that budget for a new car I honestly wouldn’t think twice before buying one. Feel free to call this review a biased one, but I just fell for the Mini!
Mustang club Lebanon cruising from Beirut waterfront to Kaslik.
The below video was shot at a new drift park in Saida started by a couple of guys welcoming racers who want to bring it to the track (for a certain fee I suppose) instead of the street.
Kamashtak is a new website by a group of people aiming to document the various parking violations causing traffic jams around Beirut by taking photos of the violating vehicles, tagging them on a map, and finally posting them on the website along with the violation type and the vehicle’s plate number. It’s a bit similar to Cheyef 7alak initiative by LBC Group, except that Kamashtak is limited to parking violations and is not crowd-sourced.
I don’t know how effective will this initiative be. I mean Cheyef 7alak is already quite popular but did it change a thing? Thousands of photos have been uploaded so far and we still suck ass at driving… talk about wasted efforts. Anyway if you ever see the above sticker on your car, just know that you’ve done something wrong!
Looks like he’s pretty good at what he does!
The bridge might be illogical, but it’s about time people learn which lane to drive in depending on their destination.
The traffic jam is all caused by people heading to Sin El Fil and insist to drive on the left side of the road until the last few meters before reaching the bridge located on the right side. That of course forces them to suddenly slow down and make a right turn to take the bridge, causing everyone behind them to slow down as well.
Keep left if you’re going to Beirut, and right when going to Sin El Fil! Easy!
Update:
Here’s the Facebook page of the people behind that sign.
Thank you @Marilynzakhour
Now that the weather feels good for people to go outdoors, the Ouzai road is literally turning into a racing circuit on weekends with tens of bikes everywhere either racing or pulling wheelies. And although it’s a two-way road, some bikers just choose to do their stunts while driving in the opposite direction of traffic!
The video below I shot yesterday shows how does it feel like to drive there with a car on a Sunday.
