Category: Automotive

Expats will now be able to get a physical copy of their driving license. Sounds weird that this is something new but until recently the Ministry of Interior had stopped printing driving licenses for expats, we only had access to a digital copy. Not a big deal if you just drive in Kuwait but the digital copy wouldn’t be accepted anywhere else in the world. This means if you traveled you wouldn’t be able to rent a car which sucks.

Thankfully the MOI has now changed their mind and allowing us to get printed driving licenses again. Mine expires next month which is perfect timing. The only caveat is that we now have to pay 10KD to get a physical copy which I don’t think is an issue. Source

Yesterday, the Ministry of Interior deployed new mobile speed cameras across Kuwait. These battery-powered cameras will pop up in various locations and are really easy to miss!

I’ve come across similar cameras in Saudi on my road trips, and because they’re painted the same color as sand, they’re easy to miss until the very last minute. Also, depending on the road, it’s sometimes hard to tell if the camera is pointed at your lane or the opposite one.

These new cameras are being introduced ahead of the new traffic laws, which go into effect on April 22. The new laws include increased speeding fines, ranging from KD70 to KD150.

The Ministry of Interior has recently revised the fines for traffic violations, which will take effect in April. With so many updates, it’s hard to cover them all, so I’ve highlighted the ones I think are most important. You can check them out on my instagram account here.

I’ve reworded some of the violations to make them easier to understand, but if you’d like to see the full list in its original terminology, you can find it here.

One thing I found interesting is on the last page of the fines list on the MOI account where it says:

A Fine of 1000-2000KD
Anyone who, by using a device or means of communication or otherwise, captures one or more pictures, or a video or audio clip, or publishes any of them during the commission of any of the crimes stipulated in this law.

They are basically criminalizing the act of documenting or sharing media related to a crime in progress. I’m assuming its meant for the guys who post videos on tiktok of them racing or performing stunts. But it’s not clear if this also applies to bystanders capturing a crime. For example, if I see a car parked on a curb and I post a tiktok video showing it and complaining about it. Will I be fined?

@dr_diecast_models is a Kuwait-based diorama artist I’ve admired for years. He specializes in driveway dioramas, with my favorites being his incredibly realistic recreations of deserted driveways with abandoned cars. Last week, I reached out to him to learn more about his story and see how he brings these dioramas to life.

Dr. Diecast (he wants to stay anonymous) has loved models and cars since he was young. One day, he built a diorama set for one of his models, and when his friend saw it he was impressed. That friend also happened to run a popular auction account and offered to help sell the dioramas if he could make two sets a week. The dioramas became popular, and his hobby quickly turned into something bigger.

The dioramas are 1:18 scale, meaning everything is 18 times smaller than its real-life counterpart. He builds all his sets in a small room tucked away in the corner of his house. I watched him work on a wall for one of his sets, and the level of detail and weathering he painstakingly applies with a paintbrush is mind-blowing. From the size of newspaper boxes to the dimensions of each brick, everything is accurately measured to stay true to scale.

His most popular sets are those depicting cars parked outside old homes, untouched for years, or cars that have been abandoned near electrical substations in neighborhoods.

The cars are a whole other story. He has his own ‘car bank’ you can choose from, but if he doesn’t have the car you want, he can help you source it. From there, it’s up to you whether the car stays as is or gets customized to look a certain way. My favorite is the red car covered in dust, with its protective cover ripped, the driver’s window smashed, and the typical white sticker with a red ‘X’ on the windshield. It’s such a mundane yet familiar real-life scene, and I love it.

Depending on the diorama, he charges around 65 KD, excluding the car. His customers are mostly in Kuwait but he also gets a lot of orders from around the GCC. If you want to check his work out more of his work head over to his account @dr_diecast_models

Not sure if the website is new or not but @q8nitro has been posting about it recently so I just found out about it. It’s a much better site than Q8Car thats for sure, and the cars on it are more interesting. Only weird thing is that I don’t think they remove cars after they’ve sold. There are cars there listed back in 2019, not sure why they’re just leaving them since it makes the overall website less useful and misleading. Link

BYD are launching a new car electric sports car called the Yangwang U9 that can jump over potholes. That sounds like the perfect car for Kuwait.

A couple of weeks ago I posted how there were going to be no track days at Kuwait Motor Town this season because the contract with the company running the place had expired and wasn’t renewed. Well it’s been renewed now so track days are back again and the racetrack will be open this season. @kmtkw

This is pretty disappointing news but it doesn’t look like there will be track days this year at Kuwait Motor Town. Supposedly the contract with the company that was running KMT expired and it wasn’t renewed and neither does anyone else seem to want to run it. So all events that were scheduled to take place at the race track were canceled and there won’t be any open track days until a new company takes over. Sucks.

I thought I posted about @q8knight79 before on the blog but I just checked and don’t think I have. He’s a guy I follow on my cars account and he’s got a super 80s vibe.

Last year he flew to the US, bought a 96 Corvette, then did an epic road trip with the car before shipping it to Kuwait. He uploaded the video a couple of weeks ago to YouTube and I thought it was pretty entertaining.

I kinda need to do the same thing now, fly to the US, buy a first generation Viper, do an epic road trip, crash it, and then fly back.

According to the MOI, a new law will soon be implemented where expatriates in Kuwait will no longer be allowed to own more than one vehicle (source). Thats so ridiculous! I’m trying to understand what issue they’re trying to solve by doing that. It can’t be reducing traffic since even though I own 7 cars I can only drive 1 of them at a time. The only thing I can think of is solving the parking situation in densely populated areas.

I live in Salmiya and I’m lucky my building has plenty of underground parking, but most of the other tall residential towers have like 6 or 8 parking spots under the building and thats it. A lot of the buildings which have underground parking had them converted to storage which they rent out commercially. Instead of disallowing that, or requiring buildings to have enough parking for every resident, the easiest solution is just ban expats from owning more than a car. How many expats own multiple cars anyway? I’d assume most are probably just dad’s the have their wives and kids cars registered under their own name.

Thanks Del

Video is in Arabic but shows you the step by step guide on how to do it. They don’t seem to mention how to get a printed copy of the registration though, only that once you update it you can then refresh the registration in your Kuwait Mobile ID app and it will be updated there. YouTube

If you’ve renewed your car this way, I’d be interested to hear about the experience or if you ran into any issues.

If you’re a fan of cars you’re going to appreciate this video. It was shot in 1982 and is of a car meetup in Blajat Street, Salmiya. YouTube

I’ve known about this event for weeks but couldn’t share details until now. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to go to a monster truck show, and it’s finally going to happen!

The Hot Wheels Monster Trucks show is coming to Kuwait next month to perform 4 shows over 4 days from October 23 to 26. The event will be taking place at the Basel Salem Alsabah Club and is it brought to you by Blast Off Events and Live Nation.

Tickets will start at 15KD and will be available later today on Eventat.com and LiveNation.me

If you want a preview, check out @hotwheelsmonstertruckslive

Update: I replaced the main photo with the official poster now that it’s launched.

Auto World Show is a car show that’s more than just a car show. Last year was their first year and they had a bunch of different things happening during the week including talks, sim and RC racing, stunt shows, a 4×4 proving ground and more. This year they’re back again for the second year running and the show starts from today and will last till September 28th.

All the major car brands will be there including the major European ones as well as most of the Chinese brands. I went to it last year and I didn’t find it interesting at all since there wasn’t any car I hadn’t seen before, but I’ll be going to it again this year just for fun.

The show is being held at the Mishref Fair Grounds and is from 10AM to 10PM. For more info, here is a link to their website.

Yesterday the Ministry of Interior announced they’ll be installing new intelligent AI-powered traffic cameras. The new cameras are meant to automatically detect seat belt violations, and drivers using their phones while driving. This isn’t the first time the MOI announced automated monitoring. Back in January 2023, the MOI announced they were installing new smart cameras that could detect both those violations, but that never materialized for some reason.

Although not much information was shared yesterday regarding the new cameras, based on some research I did there are a couple of companies that provide these traffic cameras, including Acusensus and VITRONIC. VITRONIC recently installed AI cameras in the UAE and have a Middle East office so it’s very probable those are the ones we are getting.

No matter which brand we are getting, they all work similarly:

• The traffic cameras capture high-resolution images of approaching vehicles.

• Artificial intelligence (AI) software filters the images to detect possible mobile phone use, or failure to wear a seatbelt by the driver and front seat passenger.

• If AI does not see a potential violation, it will reject the image.

• If AI detects a driver who may be using a phone or not wearing their seatbelt, it flags the image for further review.

• Images which are flagged for potential violations are then checked and verified by an officer.

So AI won’t be issuing tickets automatically, violations will still be double checked by a real person which is good news. These new AI cameras are also really effective. In Australia they trialed a similar AI traffic camera and in the first month alone, 1,500 drivers and 225 passengers were caught not wearing seatbelts, and almost 1,200 drivers were caught using their mobile phones.

Not sure how bad seatbelt violations are, but I’m really hoping this will stop people using their phones while driving since they’re the most annoying drivers.