Although I think drivers in Kuwait can be the worst sometimes (people stop driving while whatsapping!), what I’ve also realized because of my Vespa and Datsun 240z is that there are a lot of drivers out there that can be pretty nice. When I used to have the Vespa and I’d be stuck in traffic, people always moved their cars a bit when they saw me so they could let me ride all the way to the front in between the standstill traffic. It felt like everyone was rooting for me to get out of the traffic that they were all stuck in.
With my 240z I’m now experiencing a lot of niceness as well. Because the car is so low, usually the headlights of other cars (mostly SUVs) is higher than my car as you can see in the picture on top. So if their lights are on it pretty much reflects off my rear view mirror and into my face. Nearly all the drivers who pull up behind me at a traffic light turn off their lights so not to blind me. It’s a small gesture but I love it since its from total strangers.
I’ve also gotten so many compliments on the car from total strangers. For someone like me who doesn’t like attention, the amount of attention I get because of the car is so uncomfortable. On Friday I was heading back home on the Gulf Road and listening to my music loud while driving like a nutcase when I get to a traffic light. So I’m sitting there checking my phone when I here a beep of a police siren. I ignore it. Then I hear it again and I look out my rear view mirror and can’t see anything so I continue to ignore it. Then I hear the quick siren burst again the third time so I look to my right and there is a cop car right outside my window with a cop inside it trying to talk to me. So in my head I was like shit I’m screwed either because of my erratic driving or the fact my music was loud or because I was on my phone. So I quickly pause my music and yell out “Sorry?” cuz I couldn’t hear anything he had said. The cop then points at my car and says “very nice very nice” while giving me the thumbs up. I say thank you! and in my head I’m going wtf this is all so weird.
I feel like I’m in bizarro world sometimes.
34 replies on “Courteous Drivers”
There is good drivers and assholes. But we only remember the assholes.
Good driving isn’t something that should be remembered or honored. It should be the norm.
The norm in this world is far gone man
“I’ve also gotten so many compliments on the car from total strangers. For someone like me who doesn’t like attention, the amount of attention I get because of the car is so uncomfortable.”
LOL
Are you sure you don’t like attention?
I know it sounds weird
Mark, you gotta embrace the attention man!
Curious as to where you bought a clean 240 like that one mashallah, so where did you? I’m assuming the red one is your actual car.
It took me a few months but i eventually found a clean one with barely any mods
where you driving towards city on 25 Friday morning 9 something with your window open …
yup on my way to breakfast
did you put on weight or something…
are you calling me fat?
may be its the ratio
All I get is people flashing at me even at 120-130 kmph :/
Then don’t insist on staying in the left lane. Especially if there is a big gap between you and the car ahead of you. You’re holding up everybody behind you. #not_cool
Even if I’m between 120-130 kmph?? 😮 isn’t 120 like the limit?
Moreover, they are so impatient that I had one vehicle driving part me easily at 100kmph on the right side emergency lane when the cars at the right lane were at a stand still due to traffic.
it doesn’t really matter to them if there’s a gap or not. I’ve had instances when there’s no gap.. they’d flash, I’d move and then they’d flash the next guy.
rooting*
Fixed
Nice post Mark. I think you must have a GOOD THINGS IN KUWAIT section. Could serve as an inspiration. I think the 80-20 Rule could apply to all drivers/vehicle users in Kuwait. 80% Not so good & 20% good. The good are really good!
I once banged with my car into a Lexus LS from the rear. Surely my fault. When I got off to check the whole bumper looked paint damaged and paint gone off. The Kuwait guy got out and without looking at the damage said “Hi 🙂 with a smile and asked what happened? I said I’m sorry.
He looked at the bumper and said, hey that’s old damage don’t worry 🙂 you don’t have to pay or fix that. We only agreed to check the parking sensors at Lexus in case they had a prob. Turns out they were fine. So we had a handshake.
But every time he went to London he would call me and ask “how are you doing and can I get you anything from London?”
So every time I have always met and bumped into the good and awesome 20% 🙂 of Kuwaitis and other people!
Thanks for sharing this nice incident.
I also once had a young Kuwaiti girl hit me from behind, she pleaded with me to not call the cops, instead she would pay for me to fix the bumper. We exchanged numbers, but i wasnt sure if i can get her to pay.
The damage was pretty insignificant, so i didnt really bother to get it fixed. However the girl called me atleast 3 times over the next few months to check if i have got it fixed and how much it cost. So it seems there are good people all around!
Mark did i see you yesterday entering the hamra food court in a checked shirt, along with a friend? i saw you on the escalator..
Yeah that could have been me
Sir you might want to change that ratio of 80% people being bad. In my 8 years of driving within Kuwait and various other countries, I’ve noticed driving in Kuwait is fairly easy and sometimes you find people making smart moves and gestures. There is somewhat of a connection between drivers in Kuwait which is not found elsewhere and women are catching up too.. the other day a woman stopped for me while I was at a turn, I took the turn and honked.. when I was just thinking that it wasn’t very appropriate of me to ‘thank you’ honk a woman driver, she honked back lol.. Talking about your incident, I just fail to understand how can somebody rear end someone else? Were you not paying attention?
I don’t think I said 80% bad 🙂 I just termed them as ‘not so good’… this will be an endless discussion. In my 14 years in Kuwait I have had some great experiences. And I believe I am always surrounded 100% by the 20% 🙂
Rear ending someone is not a rare thing or sight I believe in Kuwait or pretty much everywhere. Accidents happen in split seconds 🙂 What if someone in front of you really slams the brakes to a smoking standstill? BTW all while at say 120 Kmph?
But just since you asked, in my case we both were entering the highway from a small right exit in Shuwaikh. As he entered the highway with onward momentum, it was my turn to stop, look left & enter. As I looked at oncoming traffic, I did not realize the car ahead immediately stopped again (because someone from the 80% group just cut him through & he braked again and let pass 🙂 so I ended up rear-ending a guy from the 20% group 🙂
LOL – Yup, I think I paid only 80% attention which sounds like the root cause Sir 🙂
I think it’s the way you used the horn, perhaps like a soft twin-beep-touch-thank-you, that earned you the good response. You could be from the awesome 20% 🙂
A lot of People actually pretty much slam bang push kick & use the horn to shoot an abuse 🙂
Cheers mate!
Oh Mark, feel loved now do ya? 😛
Hey Mark,
I’ll be hitting up Kuwait in December for a week for a meeting and I would be driving around. As a driver from New York, How different are the rules from America? I read online stating that there are a lot of stunts, rough drivers etc on the road? Would you recommend driving or using a cab?
It’s easier to drive in Kuwait than America from my experience since rules are a lot less stricter here. Also based on videos I’ve seen online of how people drive in Florida, Kuwait isn’t that bad.
Sorry, totally unrelated but this gold from Kuwait Times today:
KD 1,500 debt
A Yemeni man was arrested after a foot chase in Adan, as she was wanted over a KD 1,500 debt. Policemen took the woman to the civil implementation department for further legal action.
El o El
Mark you are basically promoting vehicle racism.
hi Mark,
Some of the people in Kuwait , especially some Kuwaitis, are very nice
?
If you plot a graph with road niceness and outside temperature as x & y , we’ll probably notice a negative straight line 🙂