Public Service Announcements

I learned something new this week...Aramco has a radio station! I wasn't one to listen to the radio a lot before we moved here - now and then when I was driving around by myself was the extent of it. I was pretty excited to find out about Aramco's station, but also surprised to realize how much I missed listening to the radio.

So the next few times I got in the car I eagerly dialed up 91.5. Turns out they play pop in the morning and country in the afternoon. The music they played sounded current, except for a couple hours when they were playing hits from the 80's - which was kind of fun to listen to.

But here's the weird thing. There are no commercials. None. Instead, they had service announcement-type messages. One this morning went something like this...

(imagine a smooth, announcer voice): Saudi Aramco would like to remind you to fix your leaky faucets. Water is life, and you can do your part to conserve water for generations to come.

It actually continued for a bit more - I don't remember the rest of it. It was a hoot, but kind of a creepy hoot (is there such a thing?). I felt like I was living under the watchful eye of big brother. How could the company possibly know that if my kids don't push the handle down hard enough in my kitchen, it drips. Oh wait, I know. They installed the same crappy hardware in all the houses - everyone's faucet does that!

Safety Education and service announcements are huge here. There are reminders everywhere you look (and hear) to buckle up, immunize your children, clean your furnace filters, eat fiber, stop littering, don't use the furnace area for storage, wear protective gear while biking/skateboarding, don't overtake other cars on the shoulder while driving 80 mph, etc. (I could seriously go on for quite some time). Unfortunately, the reminders seem to have little influence on it's intended audience.

The kinds of things we see (mostly off the compound) would astound you. I'm not talking about the stuff stored in the furnace room or the leaky faucets. I'm talking...six unbelted kids playing tag in the back seat of a sedan while the driver, with a 1 year old on his lap, is weaving in and out of traffic at high speeds. I'm talking...public bathroom floors mopped so wet that I have to walk around the perimeter holding on to any thing attached to the wall so that I don't slip on the tiles and crack open my coconut. I'm talking... women in FULL veil driving (of course that's on the compound, because women are not allowed to drive anywhere else). I'm talking... people sittng (and we've even seen standing) in the back of pickup trucks flying down the freeway. Again, I could go on.

How effective are service announcements and education? I don't know when it started in earnest in the states. Steve and I remember not wearing seat belts when we were quite young, but we don't remember at what point it became something you always did. Regardless of when the education started, it was obviously very effective because today our generation wouldn't dream of not wearing a belt belt or throwing trash on the ground (my kids have only recently learned that you can put the car into gear if the seat belts aren't buckled).

I have heard some horrific, yet completely believable statistics on deaths due to traffic accidents in this country. I am hoping and praying that as the next generation of Saudi kids comes of age after hearing all these reminders, they will make safety just something you do. It will make the roads safer for all of us here.

In the meantime, we have to put up with the public service announcements after every third song. Quite honestly, they are much more entertaining than commercials ever were. And maybe if my boys hear it enough, they will start turning the water off completely.