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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Asia Pacific World Search Search: French police take on Lebanese drivers AFP - Sunday, February 1 BEIRUT (AFP) - - For French policemen trying to help their Lebanese counterparts bring Beirut's notoriously undisciplined drivers under control, the gestures of the local officers are a source of wry amusement. ADVERTISEMENT "The traffic policemen in Beirut have their own specific gestures: they make small motions with their hands while saying, "yalla! yalla!" (go ahead! go ahead! in Arabic)," says Dominique Szymczak, a police brigadier from Paris's 13th arrondissement. He takes his Lebanese colleague into the middle of a busy intersection to demonstrate how traffic control is carried out Paris-style. "It is better to make bold gestures and to stand with feet together and hand raised," says Szymczak, dressed in smart uniform, peaked cap and immaculate white gloves. Szymczak is one of six officers who have been in Beirut for the past two weeks as part of a cooperation project between the French and Lebanese interior ministries to help improve the flow of traffic through Beirut's heavily congested streets. He is so absorbed in his mission that he forgets his French. "Come on, come on," he yells at the drivers, waving his arms vigorously. Now it is he who has become the source of amusement -- especially for the drivers who find his antics hilarious. Despite Lebanon being a small country of only four million people, its accident rate is among the highest in the world, with around 500 motorists killed and more than 6,000 injured each year, according to police figures. It is not unusual to see cars driving in the wrong direction along a one-way street, motorists jumping a red light -- when there is one -- drivers chatting happily on mobile phones and seatbelts hanging loosely in the vehicle. "The Lebanese have their own customs; they pass, for example, on the right" without warning, "but are not aggressive," says Szymczak. The lack of discipline on the roads prompted Interior Minister Ziad Baroud some months ago to declare war on traffic offenders. With the increase in ticketing, however, came a rise in road rage. For Major Hanna al-Laham, one of Beirut's traffic controllers, Lebanese drivers "do not like being given orders" -- which is why it is so difficult to discipline them. If another French officer, Laurent Peraldi, is intrigued by the inventiveness of Lebanese drivers to keep bottlenecks to a minimum, he is disturbed to see three lines of cars in a single-lane street, endless roadworks and "catastrophic" parking. And then there is the relentless honking of horns. "One gets the sense that the Lebanese have a need to hoot because they do it all the time," Peraldi says, trying to make himself heard above the din. "But it is not malicious." The Lebanese traffic officials, according to Peraldi, "are more relaxed and less stressed" than their counterparts from Paris. "Nevertheless, from now on we will be stricter," says one local policeman being trained by the Parisians, who asked not to be named. One police officer orders a motorist to move his vehicle out of the way because it is causing an obstruction. "You must obey the rules from now on," he tells the driver, smiling broadly. "Ok, ok," responds the driver, flailing his arms in protest but eventually complying with the order. "Here we drive as if we are crazy. Everyone does what he wants. Hopefully in time the Lebanese will become more disciplined," says another driver, even as the hooting of cars stacked up behind him reaches a new crescendo. Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Recommend this article Average (0 votes) Sign in to recommend this article » Most Recommended Stories » Related Articles: Entertainment & Lifestyle Danny Boyle wins top director award for "Slumdog"Reuters - Monday, February 2 Danny Boyle's `Slumdog Millionaire' wins DGA honorAP - Sunday, February 1 Queen of burlesque Von Teese on fashion, fetishes and FranceAFP - Sunday, February 1 Acclaim in Vienna for Neumeier's "Death in Venice"AFP - Sunday, February 1 Lachey defends ex-wife's apparent weight gainAP - Sunday, February 1 Enlarge Photo French policemen train Lebanese traffic policemen during a field workshop in central Beirut Most Popular – Entertainment Viewed Octuplets' mother already had six children: report Turkish PM defends Gaza outburst 'Superman' Brown falls to earth as recession hits Britain Soldier suicides hit record in 2008: US Army Exxon notches 45.22 billion dlrs record profit View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! 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