The fix nobody turns up for

Every afternoon outside a school in Abu Dhabi, a line of cars waits with engines running for the air conditioning, sometimes for half an hour.

None of this is in dispute. The fumes gather at exactly the height of a child walking past. The people who sit longest, often hired drivers with no say over the timetable, breathe the most of it. The noise and the heat spill into the street for the neighbours. And the alternatives are known and cheap: a shaded waiting area by the gate, pickup staggered by year group, a simple rule that engines go off once the car is parked.

So why does the line still idle?

Because it is easy. Nobody wants to sit in the heat while the next car keeps cool. Each family makes the sensible choice for itself, and the sensible choices add up to a poor afternoon for everyone. No single parent can change it by switching off alone.

A rule could, and it would cost almost nothing. Once everyone waits the same way, nobody is at a disadvantage, and the children are still collected on time.

What is missing is not the solution. It is a few dozen parents who care enough to write the same letter, turn up to the same evening at the school, and ask for the change together. It would take a term, perhaps less.

But leaving it alone is easier. So the engines run.