IRAQ: No seat belts required

Dividing one's time between Iraq and the United States means viewing the world through two vastly different prisms: the Iraqi one and the American one. This was driven home during a recent encounter with an aspiring foreign correspondent at Columbia University in New York.

The student asked a good question: How do foreigners avoid drawing attention to themselves while working in Baghdad? The answer: Do as the Iraqis do. For instance, don't wear seat belts, because Iraqis don't.

The aspiring correspondent had a follow-up question: Why don't Iraqis wear seat belts?

I told him the truth: I didn't know, but in a country where nobody wants to look "different,"  wearing seat belts simply was not an option. The student looked perturbed. Couldn't Iraqis — and foreigners — just wear lap belts so that others would not notice they were strapped in, he said? This way, they could be safe and go unnoticed.

I pointed out that nowadays, cars only come with shoulder straps, not lap belts.

What about sliding the shoulder strap down to sit across the lap, to be invisible to passersby? he suggested. Other students were beginning to look concerned that this topic could dominate the class session.

I ended the conversation by saying that in a country plagued by decades of war and political turmoil, most Iraqis probably had things other than traffic safety to worry about. Anyway, being strapped into a car seat could prevent a hasty escape in the event shooting broke out in the midst of a traffic jam, or a bomb went off nearby.

The conversation nagged at me as I returned to Baghdad and sat in the passenger seat of a taxi that sped away from the airport terminal at 85 mph. Later, I asked one of our staff drivers why Iraqis don't wear seat belts, even though there is a law requiring their use. "Because we don't care," he said, shrugging his shoulders. He added that if someone were seen wearing a belt, others would immediately notice them. "They'd say, 'Who is that person? Why are they so important as to wear a seat belt?'" he said.

The driver acknowledged that he would like to wear a seat belt for safety but would not dare, because of the attention and ridicule that would bring.

Other staffers confirmed this. They explained that even before the current war, seat belts were viewed as wimpish and shunned  by most Iraqis — even the traffic cops assigned to enforce seat belt laws.

One staffer recalled a drive with his father in 2001. His father was a major general in the Iraqi military and was dressed in his uniform. He also was wearing a seat belt. A traffic officer pulled them over, part of a routine highway check. He peered into the window and snickered as he saw the older man strapped in behind the wheel. "Heh heh heh! You're wearing a seat belt!" he said, before sending the seething pair on their way.

— Tina Susman in Baghdad

Photos: The seat is worn but the seat belt is as good as new in this late-'80s sedan in Iraq. An Iraqi driver proves that tough guys don't wear seat belts. Credits: Tina Susman / Los Angeles Times