Driving in Kuwait - the Low down for all expats - abroad and available

Thanks Legacy!

I'm going to chime in here.. yes you're right it is an opinion but it's also about perception. All the expats feel the way the do about the driving here because compared to what we consider normal driving this is the polar opposite. For you it might seem normal because it's what you've seen your entire life but for someone who's not from here it's not. It is scary and some will feel like it's a death wish but it doesn't mean that they are wrong because in their eyes it's not the norm. For example you don't hear people from India complaining about the traffic because they are use to seeing chaotic traffic daily but for someone from the states or Europe we don't so for us it's a day and night differences.

I read your comment about the driving in Egypt and that is exactly how I feel about the traffic here and I'm sure this is how other expats view it as well. You are right that no country has a perfect record for road safety but the difference is elsewhere they enforce it on everyone not just expats. And finally you can't compare Switzerland to anywhere they're just ridiculous and in a whole league of their own! 

so what we are saying here is that everyone coming from the west is pampered and afraid of the roads here

dont tell me you actually stop at stop signs in Kuwait? they're just for decoration habibti!

Thanks

legacy wrote:

Ola Expats!

No. No it is not. It is their OPINION. everyone is allowed to have an opinion.

For example, during my years of university I drove in Egypt. That was helacious, there was little to no respect for anything or anyone - traffic laws and people alike. there were no visible lanes, cars cut ahead of each other, drivers drove with their hands firmly on the horn, no indicators were ever used except to insult the driver behind u. it was hell.

I returned to kuwait (remember, born and raised here) and would instantly be calmed by the driving i saw BACK THEN - it was impossible to hear a horn on the street, and to me, kuwait was the epitome of perfect driving, people respected lanes, some used indicators etc. it was bliss.

that being said however, it did not mean that there were not a few bad apples, ok, a lot of bad apples in the bunch. Both expats and citizens alike. However, the laws are more stringent on expats unfortunately, and the saying in Arabic goes "من امن العقاب اساء الادب" or something along those lines, which translates to, "he who guarantees the punishment acts badly", which means if you know what the law will do to you and are certain you can get away with it, you will not abide by the rules in the first place. so if an expat takes an illegal turn or drives without a licence, they are deported, whereas citizens are not deported. again, that does not mean that expats do not commit grievous crimes, oh yes they do!

the bottom line is; you are responsible for your own driving. drive safely and you will avert 80% of the craziness on the roads. most accidents occur because 2 people decide to be bone-headed together - against each other. i have seen it countless times, one driver trying to merge into a lane, another refuses their entry, so first driver has a bone to pick with second driver and goes out of their way to scare the heebie-jeebies out of them, at risk of everyone in the street.

Kuwait has the proper infrastructure for perfect road safety. However, rarely does any country have a perfect record of road safety. there are the crazies out there that ruin it for everyone, the speeders, the gawkers, the non-users of indicators, the people out there to hit on everyone else (flirt, not hit as in hit).

driving in Kuwait is not as bad as people make it out to be, it is only not what they expected. and it is not wrong to expect things to be better, given the country's financial strength etc.

Most traffic jams are caused by inconsiderate drivers and poor planning - e.g. i live in hawally, during school days it takes me 40 minutes to get to kuwait city, and if i am 5 minutes late leaving my house, that results in me arriving to work late by about 15-20. whereas when schools are off it takes me 10 minutes to get to work. the reason being the genius that designed hawally placed all the schools near the major entry/exits, causing massive deadlock.

before i was proud to tout how amazing driving in kuwait was to all my friends at uni, citing that you could go a whole week without hearing a single horn blow. now that is not the case, however it is still better than most places.

and please remember, despite how fast people drive here, the record for highest ticket in the world was in Switzerland (link). True story

what expats mean is that courtesy is long lost on the roads of kuwait by about 75% of the drivers, and it is only by driving really crazy that you are allowed to take your exit.

hopefully this sets the record straight on driving. Personally, i am very lazy when it comes to driving. i live in hawally and walk everywhere i need to go because of a) traffic b) parking. heck, i can run to marina mall in about 25 minutes, and i have done so, several times. one time i even left my car parked at bayt lothan and picked it up the next morning, by running there. driving has become a hassle, it is high time kuwait introduce a better way for people to get around, the buses just dont cut it.

Alright… my turn!  Lol

Hello friend…

First of all, no… it’s not an opinion… it’s a matter of statistical data…

(from a previous post)

➢    Houston Texas  (as a western reference) in 2012 had 183 fatalities (with a population base of about 4m of which about 3m are licensed drivers), with another 211 fatalities in 2013… now, add those numbers together and you get about the normal ‘reported’ vehicle fatalities in Kuwait each year …  this being a country with a lesser total population base and less then 1/3 the licensed drivers … so in summary your looking a basically double the fatalities annually with a third of the licensed drivers, or 6 times the simplified rate being reference (and that’s based on reporting).  Now, what a lot of people don’t know is how the statistics are skewed in reference to international standards (and Kuwait’s not the only country doing this … no one really wants to look ‘too’ bad) … western reporting encompasses all fatalities “vehicle related” … this includes pedestrian related and injures resulting from vehicle accidents … here in Kuwait (statistically) pedestrian strikes resulting in fatalities, and injuries incurred in an accident resulting in a fatality are not counted in the reporting.  
Example … your driving along at 120 in a posted 80 section of coast road and a pedestrian trying to catch their bus runs out in front of you resulting in your knocking them 40 meters in the air killing them pretty much instantly… you in turn freak out loosing control of your vehicle slamming into to two other vehicles one of which has five kids ranging from 2 to 12 playing around un-seatbelted in the backseat … as emergency personnel arrive they find yourself, one child, and one other adult dead on scene… one other child dies on the way to the hospital… one more child and two adults die in the hospital over the following weeks.  In the western cultures this accident is reported as resulting in 8 vehicle related fatalities (1 pedestrian, 3 kids, and 4 adults) … in Kuwait it’s statistically reported as 3 vehicle related fatalities (those originally in the vehicles and died on scene) … the pedestrian has their own reporting category … those who died on the way to or after arriving at the hospital are categorized as dying of “medical complications” … lol 
My friend who works at the ministry and deals with this data told me in ‘his opinion’ that there are probably 2.5 times the deaths in this country that should be statistically reported differently then they are in order to be comparably aliened to its international counterparts… based on this knowledge you could now assess 15 times the rate as opposed to the 6.  (The Kuwait government themselves said in 2012 that the country had broken some sort of worlds record regarding fatalities on roadways per capita… although in defense reading the description provided I never did understand the formula used and or how it related to any documented record) 
<

Secondly … and this is the BIG one … your descriptions and justifications are based on “traffic” related issues!   I’ll state this once again “I don’t care about “TRAFFIC” … traffic is not the subject … uneducated driving habits coupled with “speed” is the main issue that sets Kuwait apart from many places in the world (and I’ve driven in a lot of them, ‘including, yes, Egypt’) … (in my culture, where I grew up… there was ‘no’ public transportation … we grew up seat-belted in the seat next to our parents watching all the issues of driving – protocol, etiquette, legal, cultural – and when we turned 14 we were taking classes in school, drivers permit at 15 ½, and license, at 16 – if you didn’t have a car you didn’t have a life, job, gf, or any other prospects… cops are everywhere there, always monitoring, no machines… and they ‘enforce’ the laws, and people are held 'accountable for they're actions' – it’s not what you see in the movies and in video games … we grew up to drive)  …here, and again as I stated before:

➢    The majority of the drivers in this country (expats) came here not knowing how to drive and learned driving by examples and processes with Kuwait itself.  A lot of the driving styles here came from places like India, Egypt, and the Philippines (and many other places I’m sure) … and at the risk of offending ‘again’, I have driven in all three places and can tell you by first hand experience that they are some of the worst driving environments in the world… and when you take the habits learned from these places and then introduce the ‘speed’ that is considered acceptable by those who are simply video gamers calling themselves good drivers because they haven’t died ‘yet’… you get one of the most tragically dangerous road environments in the world – Kuwait.  <

This has nothing to do with traffic… traffic precludes bumps and scrapes, not fatalities …

No Legacy buddy… I really have to disagree with you on this one … this is a ‘part’ of my profession “Transportation Safety”, and with all due respect … this is ‘one’ of the most ‘dangerous’ places on earth in regards to driving.

One other observation … and I think Ribosom also touched on this in another post… I might have been ‘lucky’ to see a dead body in the road a couple times in my ‘life’ back home… here, it’s almost a weekly occurrence to see (part may be cultural in not touching or covering for some reason… I don’t know… maybe it’s a specific persons job – lol – not really tring to be funny)  …  just an observation…

have a great week everyone ... still waiting for that cup of coffee friend! - lol 

okok, coffee is available - friday morning say? after my run

now i gather from your informed opinion that you are a statistician by profession - in which case your views on driving in kuwait will always be moot since it is your bread and butter

i agree with what you said, mostly. i dont agree however that everyone who comes here does not know how to drive and learn in kuwait. take me for example, i never drove here, i was introduced to cars in Egypt, meaning when i come here i should be driving wiht that mentality, ignoring traffic lights and doing my own thing all gung-ho and what have you, but i dont. the driving i wish to see imprints on me and i follow it, i dont overtake from the right or speed there, i "try" to use indicators 90% of the time etc.

i work right next to the school that churns out the traffic police - at least i think so, they're dressed in navy. its a vocational training place, they're all like 13-15 or something, and you should see the way they loiter outside the place in the early morning! definitely not old enough to drive, doesnt stop them each from having a car, truck, monster truck etc. the age old adage of "quis custodiet ipsos custodes" comes to mind.

i have been living in kuwait for almost 25 years (the 4 years of uni i was a habitual resident) and i never saw a dead body in the street - i once saw a guy passed out on the beach near blajat st. he could have been dead, drunk, or both tho. and no i did not throw rocks at him from a safe distance to see if hes alive.

that being said, i do live close to the "autobot graveyard" (link) in Kuwait and visit it regularly, not out of morbid interest, but to remind myself that driving is a privilege not a joy. yes, osmetimes u see cars that definitely look like they were the final resting spot for their drivers.

the problem, in my honest opinion, lies in duality - much like the same reason why the USA will not enter into a tax agreement with kuwait - due to the fact that kuwait differentiates between local and foreign companies here, taxing the latter up to 15% of their net profit, whilst the former, depending on their nature (with limited liability, kuwait shareholding co, kuwait shareholding co. closed) pay a maximum of 4.5%, 1% if they're not listed on the stock exchange. in a similar case, kuwait has different laws for residents than expats, which causes duality on the streets, and we are not talking traffic here.

i sincerely believe that anyone that commits grievous traffic violations should have the book thrown at them - regardless of where they are from. more often than not however, a phonecall pulls you out of hot water.

can the cops do more? of course they can! are they? not at the moment. firstly any idiot riding a motorbike without a helmet should have their licence revoked.

i could go on and on, maybe over coffee? lets set a time and date! this friday, 9:30AM, marina crescent, you pick the place

?

actually I'm more driven by KPI Matrix Systems as a Incident Management tool, but prefer the usage of leading indicators  (standardized) as opposed the the typical statistical driven lagging systems that are prone to manipulation via focused data inputs influenced by a specific wanted end result. 


ahhhh... Starbucks is always easy to remember... lol

930... see you later friend 

nice jargon... statistician

Friday it is! if anyone else wants to show up, hayakom (you(plural) are welcome!)! i'm usually running the crescent route (marina crescent to sci-center and back) from 8AM.

so yes, a tangent, but a nice one

Always an interesting read! Thank you.