A couple of years back when the MOI banned scooters on the roads I was against the idea because people had no other place to ride their scooters. But, now I think the scooter riders have also gotten a bit too cocky and out of hand. The other day on my way to work I was stuck behind a lady on a scooter riding in the middle of the road. I’m fine with them riding on the side of the road, but it’s not a motorbike, they shouldn’t be occupying a full lane.
Even when they’re not occupying a full lane they’re still driving pretty dangerously. On more than one occasion I’ve come across scooters coming out of a street dangerously the wrong way as I’m about to enter it. I’ve also seen people ride their scooters on the side of the Gulf Road, not on the sidewalk, but on the actual road.
I really can’t understand the thinking process, they must know riding a scooter on the streets of Kuwait is dangerous so why not be extra careful about it, that’s what I’d do.
33 replies on “Scooter Riders are Out of Control”
Let me explain the ‘thinking process’:
They can’t afford better transport. You really think they would not all rather drive a car?
🤦🏼♂️ no really Sherlock. Read the whole sentence, I’m talking about the thinking process behind not riding carefully.
Stick to the point my friend – ‘Name (required)’. Mark was talking about safety and convenience to other drivers.
The government has to stop this scooters, my friend had an accident Salmiya because this girl was carelessly squized her scooter and ride with high speed, she was fractured, lost her job so my friend has to pay all expenses but not my friend mistake.
I must be out of touch or something cause I’ve never seen a scooter on the road. In fact been a long time since I actually even saw one with this heat
Come to salmiya!
I agree, come to salmiya and you will have an awesome experience
I saw two teenagers hunched up riding on ONE scooter on Route 30…
…and they look at you with contempt if you honk at them to get out of the way.
How I wish it were legal to drive cars out of Mad Max on the roads.
I agree with you mark, Its nice how people nowadays using scooter as a way to reach work. But its not nice when the government don’t put a side road for those kind of things.. Kuwait not a Bike-Friendly country 🙂
Or pedestrian friendly
Confront them, Mark.
I confront anyone who does something wrong.
People here think that they can get away with anything because they think people won’t confront them about it.
They’re dead wrong.
It’s safer to ride a scooter in the middle of the lane instead of the side especially in traffic. Also props to that person for wearing a helmet!
Narrator: It’s not
It’s safer to ride on the side and let cars closely pass by you at speed?
Yeah, you’re basically asking if it’s safer to ride a bicycle in the middle of a road or on the side of the road. Scooters aren’t street legal, they don’t have turn signals, and brake lights and are slow. They’re meant to be ridden on sidewalks or bike paths and since we have neither, the next best thing is the side of the road.
Yeah I’m talking about the safety of this scenario where someone has to get an electric scooter to go from point A to point B with high risk of injury.
There is no sidewalk or bike path to ride on. So, you are more visible in the middle lane than on the side.
Legality is a whole another issue
How is it safer driving in the middle of the road? Do you think accidents don’t happen in the middle of the road but do on the side? Half the people are on their cell phone you think they’re noticing scooter riders in the middle of their lane?
Omg! Finally someone speaks on behalf of my frustrations. I see a lot too and I HATE it when they ride towards oncoming traffic on the side of the road or ride out of a street when I’m trying to enter.
Being in a low car theres always this blind spot where you can’t see this one angle (don’t know if you have it- the windshield front panel) while turning into a street, I’ve come close to crashing scooter many times cause they come out of no where in the opposite direction SMH
Ride it but ride it with some brains and obey basic common sense rules of traffic at least!!
No bicycle lane nor scooter lane first the government should set walking,cycling,scooter lane !
Then we can sue who didn’t follow the lanes !
I feel your frustrations mark. However when dealing with such issues you should always research legally whether they are committing a violation or not. According to my research, “Bicycles are classified or treated as vehicles in all 50 US states, which means that bicyclists have most of the same legal operating rights and responsibilities as motorists, including the right to occupy a full travel lane.
I know thats in the US but we like to use the us as a role model for many things so. And im pretty sure you could ride a horse on the road if you wanted to. I’ve seen that in canada before. So basically they could ride their scooter on the side out of their willingness to let others pass. But legally they can continue riding in the middle of the road according to the us. My beef with cyclists, scooters, etc. is they are treated like vehicles but they run red lights and such. (Ive seen it on gulf road before) They follow the rules when its convenient for them. Its like that in most of the world.
Ok if that’s how you want to look at it they all should be fined and have their scooters confiscated according to the law cuz scooters are not allowed to be ridden on roads at all according to the MOI https://www.instagram.com/p/CG-mEySLdYW/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Yeah bro like i said my comment was according to the us. I just want to clarify that I am not a scooter expert nor am I qualified to speak on behalf of the various traffic laws and regulations. I know that scooters and atvs are banned but what about bicycles? Bicycles are way slower so you’re better off having a scooter or atv in front of you lmao. Again, I am not a scooter expert and any complaints/comments should be directed to the relevant agencies.
As per the picture above. That’s completely not safe to drive especially there are many Vin Diesel on the road rash driving. Forget making lanes for cyclist or scooters. I was in 9th grade when the plan of building Metro was completed. Now am getting bald and entering 30s there is no sign of Metro network 😀
Recently they said it will be delayed further due to budget issues
Can we direct our frustrations not at a person who is choosing a sustainable way of transport (agree that safety is an issue and they should be more responsible) , but at the inconceivable fact that a well to do country like Kuwait has no sidewalks that are wheelchair/scooter friendly? I’m in Oslo currently and nobody is even using their cars. Everybody is on scooters and it’s such a wonderful thing. I know it’s a different world. But why aren’t the Kuwaiti citizens demanding better services from their government? It kinda blows my mind
Sustainable methods of transport doesn’t align well with the interests of the oil and gas industry. Look at how much sunshine we’re getting compared to colder countries, yet we don’t see prevalence of solar power, except for a few street lamps in certain areas. Also, where are all the electric car variants of major car makers? Why aren’t they in Kuwait yet? All I saw was a Porsche Taycan billboard on route 5. Where are the affordable ones? Even though the energy used to charge car batteries comes from burning fossil fuels, it still uses less energy compared to combustion engines.
It’s ironic how many comments here are missing the point entirely.
Totally agree Mark. And some of them ride so fast they will hit pedestrians. Especially as these scooters are silent with no warning sound. They are quite reckless. MOI needs to enforce the ban and fine them, over a speed limit.
This is nothing compared to Europe. In Europe they fight with motorists as if they have more privilege than real cars. And guess what the governor does nothing about them and blames the drivers instead of these stupid cyclists and scooter riders.
Looks like in UAE Police is taking matters into their hands:
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/transport/uae-police-crack-down-on-e-scooter-traffic-rule-violations
Hi, i get what Mark is trying to say… and agree with most of it. But seing the picture posted… the girl is technically not in the middle of the road but at the middle of the right lane of the road… which slow vehicles should be right? … what the other guy said that its safer for bikes and scooters to ride like that, which is partly true because a lot of drivers that drives big vehicles cannot see or dont even look at their side mirrors to see small vehicles like that when turning… most of the time they swerve dangerously to the sides. If only the side walks are not blocked ( or if there are side walks) then these scooters would be more than glad to use it. Just give a friedly Honk to the scooter/bike rider would be ok to get their attention and so they can move to the side as safely as possible. Please dont tailgate them and then aggresively honk, i see it a lot of times and it suprises the riders which causes an accident. These are people trying travel as efficiently as possible… so please bare with them and need a little bit everyone’s patience, treat them like as how you treat a bike on the road.
But then, i also agree with Mark. If these scooters want to use main thoroughfares… they should have a permit to ride there also. This means that when they ride the streets, they should wear proper safety gears, learn to know the proper way of driving and they should be taught also to be considerate of the other vehicles that are using road.
I my self used to go to work with a bicycle and then later on a an e-scooter… but i do ride as close as possible on the side of the road and follow every traffic rules. But i do find it that bigger vehicles are more aggressive with e-scooters than a bicycle. Last year, i had an accident with my e-scooter because a vehicle swerved aggressively to pass another vehicle… slighly it grazed my scooter and was enough to destabilize it to send me rolling on the road… fortunately i was not seriously hurt (just a few scratches and a ripped pants) .. so i stoped doing that and i now just walk my usual 2km way to work everyday (even with this summer heat 😕)
The reasons why chose to try riding a bicycle or an e-scooter to work are…
1.) It shorthens my travel time
2.) I cannot get a driver’s license
3.) I Cannot afford to take taxi everyday
4.) There are no bus stops near my area of work
5.) I can fold them to easily take it in the Bus (I live in Jabriya and work in Dajeej, i take the bus going to farwaniya and walk 2 kilometers to get to my work place)
Ideally, i should say “everybody should give respect to everyone especially when driving on the road. But what i want to say really is… “Drive/Ride at your own risk”
😅✌️
The issue is the scooter isn’t a road legal vehicle which means it shouldn’t be in the middle of the lane. A scooter isn’t a slow-moving vehicle because it’s not a vehicle. It’s actually more dangerous to ride something so small and slow with no brake lights or turn signals on a road with much heavier and faster moving cars. Because of the size, a scooter is less visible on the road than a car and if a car behind her doesn’t see her she would get run over (not rear ended like if she was in a car or on a motorbike)
I get your point Mark. But how about if its a bicycle? They can be slow and have no turn signals 😅✌️… And also if a bicycle get those electric motor add-on…its basically the same also right? Even without a motor, bicycles can go very fast also.
And then, scooter riders are more visible actually than a cyclist when riding because they ride it standing.
But i do feel you, i drive also in the Philippines and there are more cyclist and scooter riders there… it gets really frustrating sometimes when they are infront of you and trying to go fast somewhere
You will hate them for a bit more my friend until the MOI totally ban them on the streets and or authorize traffic police to issue fines on cyclist and scooter riders
I am not sure about this, but i heard that the MOI considers e-scooters as bicycles also… please correct me if i heard this thing wrong. 😅✌️