I grew up in Abu Dhabi, where the minimum driving age is 18 years old. Eager to be behind the wheel as soon as possible, I began taking driving lessons during my summers in Virginia, where I could start driving at 16. At age 18, transferring my knowledge of traffic signs and basic road etiquette in Virginia to that of Abu Dhabi was effortless. The red octagon with white letters S-T-O-P, was equivalent to the red octagon with the Arabic script for the same word. The sign cautioning me that a school crossing zone was ahead was the almost the same - in the United States, the boy and girl were wearing a pair of pants and a dress, respectively, while in the Middle East, the duo sported the cultural equivalent – a dishdasha and burqa. There was a standard notation of traffic rules across the two countries.