What Are Kuwait Traffic Laws?
You all know me – I am a law and order kind of gal. I like order, I like laws, especially those voted on by the people. I like laws which can be enforced, and are enforced, equally, for all people equally in the country. Oh? I did? I said EQUALLY twice?
We are all equal before the law.
Now here is the tricky part. Have you ever seen a listing of traffic laws in Kuwait? Can you find a listing of laws, violations, and their charges? When we apply for driver’s licenses in almost any country, we get a little booklet to memorize, with the laws written inside it. The laws are clear. Clear laws are enforceable.
I’ve looked at the MOI website. I see something that looks like it might be a traffic code in Arabic. I have looked everywhere; I cannot find one in English. I find no reference to any handbooks for people applying for their driver’s license.
How can you enforce a law if the law is not published? Is there a code somewhere listing violations and fines? I published one many years ago, something that all the expats were sending around as ‘the new Kuwait traffic rules’ but IF it was, there was never anything in the paper about it to confirm its validity.
If you are going to have a major campaign to enforce traffic codes, you might want to publish the laws . . . in all major languages use today in Kuwait.
From the Kuwait Times:
Ali vows to rid traffic ‘disease’
Interior Ministry Assistant Undersecretary Maj Gen Abdulfattah Al-Ali
KUWAIT: Interior Ministry Assistant Undersecretary Maj Gen Abdulfattah Al-Ali stressed that all traffic violation-related deportations are in accordance with the law. Speaking at a press conference at the Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA) headquarters, Ali said that deporting people for traffic violations was also adopted by the US and other countries worldwide. “The problem is that we were very tolerant with violators and this does not mean that law violation is a right for motorists,” he underlined, urging all human rights organizations who have criticized Kuwait’s traffic police to examine human rights in their respective countries before talking about Kuwait.
“We have filed over 70,000 traffic citations including 43,000 serious ones such as running red lights, driving under the influence of alcohol, driving on the wrong side and many others,” he elaborated, pointing out that those already deported did not want to respect the traffic laws they had repeatedly violated. Ali added that the results of studies of traffic problems revealed many and that once one problem was solved, another emerged immediately.
“We have various problems… including the fact that motorists speak many languages and dialects which requires a large number of specialists to develop their traffic awareness,” he explained, noting that the traffic remedy strategy started by diagnosing the “disease” by studying random “specimens” at different times of the day at places with heavy traffic flows such as Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, Shuwaikh Industrial Area, Amman Street, Bnaid Al-Gar, Khaitan, Farwaniya and Fahaheel.
“The specimens showed some major problems such as domestic drivers using private vehicles as taxis, taxi and large vehicle drivers who do not hold general driver’s licenses and people driving without licenses at all,” he said, adding that this called for strict law enforcement.
“Traffic in Kuwait is like an old sick man who once treated for one aliment develops another,” he noted, adding that 18 traffic inspection teams dressed in civilian clothes had been formed and deployed in various places. “Fortunately, traffic police only file 100 daily citations in Jleeb compared to 1,000-1,500 in the past”, he concluded.
GoogleEarth Map of Speed Cameras in Kuwait
From this morning’s mail, a most valuable tool for money-saving:
AdventureMan tells me in Doha, Qatar, there are now speed cameras everywhere, and the fines are HUGE. Like $2000 for speeding, and they have the picture to prove it. He also tells me the law is applied against everyone, from the highest to the lowest, so that there is a lot less speeding and weaving than we see in Kuwait. I wonder how it is going to work here?
I read in yesterday’s paper, in Jahra, a driver deliberately hit one of the cameras with his car! I wonder if the camera was able to capture the incident before its demise? (It said the culprit was arrested, I think.)
We were out in the Wild West last night (Fehaheel) and a police car was trying to get to a huge traffic snarl. He blurped and burbled, he shouted in his loudspeaker, and nobody let him in. There was no respect for the traffic police, no fear. People just looked after their own interests. Fortunately, it was all at a very low speed, as traffic was jammed tight. There WAS room to let the police car in, but nobody did. I wonder how it would have worked if he had a camera? Or started giving tickets?
Doesn’t Kuwait need a call-in, or e-mail in place where you can take photos of traffic things happening and report violators, like those guys who think they own the emergency lanes when traffic is backed up, or who think the handicapped spots are for them (one told me “but when there is no one parking there, anyone can use it!”) to use – it would be so nice to be able to take a photo and send it in to the authorities and to believe that something would be done about it.
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