After 150 miles on Southern California freeways the past two days, following most of two years driving in the UAE, I am fairly confident in writing this:

Driving is a lot less scary here than in the UAE — where in 2010 the second-leading cause of death was “road injury”.

Some obseverations.

1. Tailgating. It is a constant of driving in the UAE. Southern Californians seem to have grasped that it is a bad idea to be one length behind the car in front of you when you’re doing 50 mph — or 60 or 70.

2. Light-flashing. Blinking high beams at a perceived laggard is de rigeuer in the UAE. (While tail-gating.) It is, rightly, perceived as a highly provocative action, in SoCal; it is a tactic that almost always annoys or angers the person ahead. For every fast-lane driver who gets blinked and says to himself, “Oh, I am going slowly. Probably shouldn’t text when in the fast lane. I need to move over” are 99 drivers who say, “back off, Jack” — or something far saltier. And angry drivers are not good drivers.

3. Frequent lane-changing. In the UAE, the law of motoring seems to mandate that a one-car improvement in your position, by making a lane change, must be taken. Every time. Even if means cutting off someone with a dangerous move ahead of a red light.

4. Frequent horn honking. Woe be unto those who are not barreling off within a second of a green light Someone, or several someones, will be leaning on their horns. And we all know that people being honked at always react positively. (Yes, sarcasm.)

5. The grand-slam lane change. Do a few miles in the UAE, and you will see someone go from the first lane to the fourth over a distance of perhaps a 10th of a mile. Doesn’t happen in SoCal.

6. Left turns only from left-turn lanes. In the UAE, the second lane from the middle routinely is turned into an impromptu left-turn lane, and sometimes even the third lane. Which leads to jockeying for position as the cars straighten out after the turn. Always a dangerous moment.

7. Mid-block U-turns. The UAE has lots of these. Especially in Abu Dhabi. Blocks can be a mile or two long, and chances to pull a U — rather than go to the end of the block — are fairly common. Interesting concept, except that if 3-4 people have the same idea at the same place, the last of them is almost always still straddling the fast lane. Which makes for very dangerous conditions — the sudden stops half way between lights.

8. Higher speed limits. The legal limit on freeways in the UAE is 140 kph (87 mph). And on wider streets (with stop lights) is often 100 kph. That’s too fast, especially considering the drivers in the UAE comprise a high fraction of expats who never drove before they got to the country.

9. The lack of overloanded minivans. The HiAce van set up to carry a driver and, like, eight people is common in the UAE. They are scary. I’m not sure I’ve seen a HiAce in California. I’m sure I have not seen one with nine people inside.

California drivers may not be the best in the nation — in this survey they were ranked the 19th-worst in the country, by state — but they have a strong sense of self-preservation (seat belts are often ignored, in the UAE) and lots and lots of practice.

I was struck by the care taken by SoCal drivers, and what seems to be fairly reliable manners — and minimal overt aggression.

It reinforces what a scary place is the UAE to drive.