Governed by strict Islamic rules, Saudi Arabia has some of the most stringent gender-based laws in the world, including a ban on female drivers. That helps explain why, at an amusement park in Jeddah, women flock to the bumper cars. Unlike most bumper car enthusiasts, though, they don’t do much crashing into other riders. The Saudi women simply want to show off their driving skills. In a country where women can’t leave the house without a male guardian and their dress and social interactions are tightly controlled, some hope images of females behind the wheel will eventually lead to real driving privileges. But many experts see that as unlikely. “The Saudi government wants this ban to continue,” says Madawi Al-Rasheed of the Middle East Center in London. “There is a basic lack of personal freedom in Saudi Arabia, especially for women, and restricting the movement of females is part of that.”