According to an instagram post by the Ministry of Interior, the emergency lanes on some of the major highways are now open to the general public to use from 6AM to 10PM as long as you don’t exceed 45km/h. The roads are the ones highlighted in blue in the map above. Their post is in Arabic so I couldn’t understand most of it but looking at the map my best guess is the emergency lanes they’re talking about are on the 30th, 40th, 50th and 60th roads, as well as the 5th and 6th Ring Roads.
Now for a bit of venting…
Why isn’t this information on their website? What about all the expats like me who can’t read Arabic? Why is the road open only from 6AM to 10PM? I mean if it’s open during the whole day why not just keep it open 24/7 instead of making it illegal after 10PM. It just complicates things. And why are they limiting the speed to 45km/h? Why don’t they just pave the road and turn it into a proper lane and again simplify things. It’s as if they still haven’t made up their minds on if they should completely cancel the emergency lanes or keep them.
48 replies on “Emergency Lanes Now Open from 6AM to 10PM”
You cant read arabic???
I can but very very very slowly. I usually use google translate its quicker.
Lol.. thats how I read Hindi.
we are pathetic.
But Hindi is not the lingua franca in many parts of India.
In some states like Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, Hindi is not commonly used. In Tamil Nadu, it’s never ever used haha.
True. But I come from a hindi speaking background, which is why i said “pathetic”
It’s alright man. A lot of Indians speak Hinglish, right?
I agree with 45km/hr because of the road divider. If you get close to it at high speed, your tires get ‘stuck’ you can’t turn your steering wheel and the next thing you know you are upside down facing the opposite direction on the other side of the road. Sound familiar? Simple- Save yourselves and others and keep to the stated limit
But thats how it is like everywhere else. Just google LA freeways and check out the pics, they drive all the way up next to the road divider so why cant we?
The issue is the speed. And on your point about LA, let me just say the average lane discipline of drivers there is different from those here 🙂
Your right and not at the same time 🙂 .
Your right about the traffic discipline in Kuwait, so the argument on 45km/h is pointless.
If you set the speed limit at 45km/h cars will zoom at 130km/h, if you set it at 120 same story. So better leave it at 120. As for me i`ll be driving as far as possible from this lane, don`t wanna get hit by any smart@ss bouncing from the barriers.
Actually LA driving is terrible too
their media guy said it will eventually and probably become a normal lane, but they have to test it and see how it goes before deciding
i do believe its a temporary solution until they finish up the metro train. In which they think will solve the traffic problem in kuwait. I honestly dont think the metro will solve the problem but will help a little. As long as gas prices are low, car insurance is low, and no road tax then no one will stop driving cars.
what metro? They havent even finalized the plans for it…..
I am also an Arab with slow Arabic. I don’t like that people expect perfect Arabic just because your father and mother are Arabs. It is still not my first language. I had English education in school and university. I think in English and do everything in English. I never used Arabic in my life. Written or read. I always flip Arabic sites to English before even attempting to read. I read Quran in English cover to cover so I can understand it.
That sounds like me 100%. It’s embarrassing at family gatherings when they think I’m shy and quiet when in fact it’s just because I don’t know what to say. It’s hard finding a Kuwaiti man that is like that as well. The struggles in life..
thats sad. I guess going out practicing and learning arabic would be too much to ask as a solution to your problems?
I think it has more to do with the fact that Arabic is the primary language for the kuwaiti society. like it or not, the size of your group compared to that of the general kuwaiti population is a rounding error.
In my opinion, I believe that people should learn the language of the society they live in. If I lived in Germany, I would expect to learn Germany. Kuwait isn’t any different.
Non Arabic speakers are a rounding error? There are easily over a million non-Arabic speakers in Kuwait, I would hardly call that a small number considering the total population is less than 4 million.
People who move to Germany integrate into society and learn the language true. But Kuwait isn’t Germany. Kuwait doesn’t want the expats to integrate into society, we’re just paid workers and are expected to come here, do our job and then leave when done. Why would an expat want to put the effort to learn the language of a society that doesn’t want them here?
And therefore, everything should be in Arabic and Hindi as they are the majority.
Not sure what your source is but English is the second most spoken language in Kuwait and not Hindi.
I’m the same way with Arabic, but I can speak it pretty decently now after a lot of practice, but people know my Arabic sucks right off the bat, and I’m only really good with Kuwaiti Arabic and have a hard time following other Arabic dialects.
Ah, isn’t it called “Emergency Lane” for a reason? What if you have an emergency? Not only are you panicking for your emergency but now you have to be careful you do not get run over.
Emergency Lane means Emergency Vehicles ONLY, police , firefighters, ambulance. It`s not related to your emergencies at all. I guess from your post that your`re a regular user of the same 🙂
lol
gotta love how the arabic article warns people that the speed cameras are being programmed to catch anyone going over 45KMH in the emergency lane but you can go 120 in the lane right next to it. Im sorry, but that sounds really really dubious to me
They are doing that so people would only use the lane when it is extremely congested.
We’ll see how it goes…
Nothing dubious. Have a look at the below link or do your on googling.
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/how-speed-cameras-work-18060.html
Not dubious at all if that is what the article says that explains why I saw the camera flashing on 5th ring road today. Inevitable traffic jam after 40 exit and everybody stalled on the normal lanes. People were moving in the emergecy lane and I saw the camera flash for 2 cars and not the rest. The rest of us were crawling and pretty certain the emergency lane driver was not doing 120km/hr. So I would be careful about speeding in the emergency lane.
Also, now that I think about it there is an abnormal amount of speed camera maintenance going on.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone drive that slowly in the emergency lane…it’s all or nothing here. I’ve been overtaken while going 120, dude in the emergency lane just kicking up rocks and dust…
That was probably me. 🙂
Do everyone a favor and stop endangering other people’s lives by driving yourself off of a cliff.
https://indiansinkuwait.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=34410&SECTION=0
cool so i got the streets right lol
Most stupid thing I have heard in a long time. Now they are just adding one more lane with bumper to bumper traffic and no chance for emergency vehicles to reach the site of an accident further ahead. FOOLS!
The 45kph is fair because that way it won’t be used by those idiots that speed by and pelt you with stones.
The timings are ok, I can stick with it, because it’s a relatively simple idea.
The confusing part is that only certain sections of the highway, I wish they would paint the barrier to know that it’s ok to drive here.
But this is all just so wrong, the government should try to expand the highway and add more lames rather than take over emergency lanes. But nooo take the easy way out…
I also think that driving a car without insurance should be illegal.
This is so stupid! I have been hit twice while in the left lane due to IDIOTS driving at over 140 KPH in the emergency lane.
1) There is no room to maneuver in the emergency lane.
2) No one in Kuwait will ever drive under 45 KPH not even in a parking lot they pull into a space at warp speed!
3) When you are in the fast lane and some one tries to pass you in the emergency lane when they get along side of you the air pressure created between the cement barrier and the passing car will cause them to be pushed slightly away from the wall and if not in complete control they will side swipe you.
4) Texting and watching video clips on your cell phone while attempting the STUNT will cause a wreck.
5) The only way this might not be a death sentence to the public is the Police will have to drive in the emergency lane at 45 kph with no more that 5 car lengths between each police car driving at 45 KPH
HOW STUPID AN IDEA TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO DRIVE ON THE EMERGENCY LANE!!!
I believe that on point 3) you are referring to Bernoulli law. But according to that law the driver will actually be sucked towards the barrier due to a low pressure zone created between driver and wall. That`s what you feel when someone passes you at a higher speed, your car will move initially toward the passing car.
Two simple solutions to the traffic problem
a) First lane reserved for car pooling.
b) All school children to compulsorily take school bus to school.
Now for what if
a) What if car pooling leads to sinning as unrelated individuals would be travelling together. Yes, of course, individuals don’t have other opportunities and are looking for sinning opportunities while travelling to and back from work.
b) What if you stay close to the school and it is not feasible for the school bus to pick up… hmm.. how about walking…
On the other hand why not continue to drive giant Tahoes while smoking, drinking coffee, texting on the cellphone and judging the sinning potential of the female driving the car in the next lane, all at the same time.
First point- While car pooling is actually a good way to reduce traffic, its considered illegal in Kuwait. One can be deported, accused of running an illegal taxi service.
I believe that there is only one solution to the traffic situation in Kuwait and that is to spread out the population more reasonably across the country. It’s a sacrifice that everyone has to make.
Kuwait does not end after the 6th ring road.
That is happening… Just at a ridiculously slow pace.
families are living together in huge houses in the normal residential areas rather than spreading apart to new areas. You see houses that are home to like 3-4 families and the residents were too stupid to build a proper garage, so they all park on the street!
Oh come on lol. That’s the only solution?! Fully agree with u but there’s definitely more ideas
Easy solution. More busses and broader bus network, get going on the subway/tram project, Road tax for cars, road toll for cars, set the age limit to 10 years for cars. If the small island state of Singapore can tackle traffic efficiently then why can’t Kuwait!?
I actually saw the notice of those screens on highways alternating between Arabic and English
Actually the best solution is to create another city.
Fantastic solution for a country if
1) they have a stable forward growth pattern
2) a net positive gdp forecast for 20 years
3) a sustainable 20-30 year vision with milestones met every 5 years (I’m not referring to Dubai but ok)
4) there’s sustainable non-fossil and services revenue coming in
5) cultural and regional stability is sustained.
6) citizens contribute actively to the bottom line growth of the economy – thus relying less on expats and a better sense of wellbeing is created.
Now this is a summary of a multitude of factors which I’m simplifying for non-economists. Also the plain readers may see controversy but its really just technical details. Measure each on a scale of 0-1 in increments of 0.1 The closer it is to 1, the better poised the country is. I invite you to make your own measurements and conclude. But the bottom line is if you hit a zero on any one of those the others don’t matter in the long term.
Yes but we don’t want to make a mega multi billion dubai replica. We need to move jobs outside the city centre.
“as long as you don’t exceed 45km/h”
Right…. pretty sure I’ve never seen anyone in that lane going less than 140 km/h.