Categories
Automotive Kuwait

Busted!

I could clearly make out the Durango’s license plate in the video above and it’s 8-60971. So this brought up an idea. Instead of stopping and impounding cars with lightly tinted windows, why doesn’t the Ministry of Interior assign one police officer to check YouTube for illegal and dangerous racing videos and impound those cars and arrest those reckless drivers instead? [YouTube]

53 replies on “Busted!”

lololol.. I love the idea though.. we could all go on youtube and find videos, email it you and you can open up a section on this site for those violations ^_^

Hmm, yes but how could the police prove who was driving the car at the time? The owner could always say someone stole it, raced with it, and brought it back…

They don’t need to prove who was driving the car. Speed cameras for example capture the cars license plates from the back of the vehicle so the cops can’t tell who was driving it anyway, the vehicle owner gets the fine.

Since this wouldn’t be considered a minor traffic violation, I think there need be a higher burden of proof, and part of it should be proving who was behind the wheel at the time of the violation. A person should not be fined unless there is definite proof that the person committed the violation. This is why I have such an issue with speed cams that take pictures of the back-end of the car as there is simply no way to tell who is behind the wheel at that time. Just because you own the vehicle does not mean that you should be fined when that car passes a speed cam, or in this case, when there’s a youtube video showing it being used in a race. Some cars are used by multiple drivers and fining the owner when it isn’t clear that he/she were behind the wheel is unjust.

What there needs to be is an increased police presence on the roads. We need more officers patrolling the streets and a serious crackdown on reckless driving. Seeing someone pulled over for reckless driving seems to be a rare site in Kuwait.

Anon, here are 2 ideas for you:
1-Instead of this “burden of proof” on the driver, if you get the license plate and vehicle type and rate of speed, go ahead and cancel that vehicle’s registration or impound the vehicle until the owner (not the driver)pays a fine(the cost of the speeding ticket for example). The vehicle belongs to somebody, so he/she needs to take responsibility for the action.
2-Maybe the police should offer a citizen “reward” program. If a person takes a video of the vehicle and person speeding, gives it to the police and results in a positive ID that person should get a reward. Sort of a “neighborhood watch” program but instead you’re monitoring the roadways for reckless drivers.
You say it’s “injust” to fine the owner; but its a matter of responsibility to vehicle owners to ensure their vehicle is not misued and safe for operation is it not?
To me it’s injust that someone can own something and have no regard for others safety if there is a chance it could cause harm to others, for example loaning out your vehicle to someone who is a risk.

I am pretty sure this evidence can be used by the police legally.. They posted it on youtube, a public site.. so yea..

In Australia, I can bring a proof that I wasnt the driver at the time of being fined, and have witnesses sign my justifications and stamped by justice of the peace. That will remove all penalties and fines away from me.

Kuwait is so backwards :p if its ur number plate, then ur in trouble. U can steal any car in the road and kill someone and run away with a clean hand, and the blame wil be someone elses.

if sumone steal ur car.. u dont go home watch tv n snack on nachos… u go and file a complaint…lol…

and yeah… i u say Kuwait is backward… i say Aussies are dumb then… i can get a 100 witnesses to sign my justification…
let’s forget tht part… its your vehicle.. arnt the cops gonna question you who was driving it?

lol you are lame.

This is the way it should be done. The burden should be on the government to prove that you definitely committed the crime. They should not be able to make a claim, without clear and convincing evidence, and then force you to disprove it or else face a penalty.

the burden should also be on the car owner… its his asset… n he should be held accountable for tht… he should be able to prove if he was not driving…the who was driving….

Anon I read your replies.
People make sense here: you say “innocent until proven guilty”..well until you are proven innocent the vehicle that was involved is impounded or registration revoked..I’m sure the owner will make sure the guilty party confess, correct? In the meantime that vehicle is off the road.
You also say it’s your constitution..if your constitution does not make sense have your lawmakers change it..you can vote correct?
Change begins with you and responsibility is accepted, not shifted. Time for people to be part of a solution, not part of the problem.

How can they be sure it happened in Kuwait? And eventually people will start blurring their license plates on the videos if people start getting busted this way. Then what?

If they start blurring their plates then let them blue their plates. People might also stop uploading videos. The point I am trying to make is for the ones who upload videos and you can see the license plates or any other kind of identification then they should be caught.

A lot of people around the world have been busted and/or fined from youtube videos, information from facebook, and a lot more. The internet has a vast amount of information, I’m sure the police already use the internet to find these people who do these things. (such as youtube, facebook etc)

Though I don’t think the main worry is catching people who race or do such things on the roads. However, I’m sure any information is good information that can be used if the police wanted that info.

Here’s a thought.

Kuwait is probably the only country in the GCC without a proper race track.

Kuwait has a very active car enthusiast community.

These guys have nowhere to go to practice a hobby that they love.
The more reckless among them end up racing on the streets endangering their own lives and the lives of all motorists and pedestrians in some cases.

Why not build a proper race track and let those guys practice their hobby in a safe and controlled environment.

It’s not as if Kuwait cannot afford it!

Answering your question is really easy. The government of Kuwait approach seems to be not to apply the law on all, but rather divide and conquer. Their target seems to me is not making people feel there is a law that applies to those who break it, but rather there is a power that can be used against normal people like me and you who may dare in the future and speak up for whatever reason.

Examples of this are many, one I recall easily is when the government people started driving around the suburbs to find any house that planted a tree in front of their house to remove it. If I remember correctly you have several posts about it. Why did they remove the trees that people planted? is it because they planted it in front of their houses which is considered a public property? Dare I list some of the real and sever violations of public properties that are being committed by the government itself, members of government, members of ‘big’ families and wealthy families?

The examples are clear and everyone can see them. The government for some reason want to ‘interact’ and ‘deliver’ its power and force even to the small and ‘keeping to themselves’ citizens. Now matter how low profile you try to keep and how away you try to stay from problems… they will deliberately bring problems to you.

I would never complain about my country, and definitely not on a popular blog like yours. But look at the recent posts you’ve made and see how the things we’re complaining about are actually affecting our lives directly.

They choose an empty road at the middle of the night to race privately, I don’t see anything dangerous with that.

Even though if that road was empty, that does not give those drivers the right to drive around like it’s Need for Speed, go do that in the desert, not in a public road.

What if the owner of this video tracks u down and beats ur ass. Seriously be careful, u don’t need this kind of attention.

I completely agree with ya Mark on nabbing these idiots recording themselves speeding/ racing on the roads. the U.S. and most of Europe does it so why can’t Kuwait!

Oh come on these guys are driving in far areas where rearly you see traffic so I don’t think they deserve a ticket give them some space man 🙂

Hahahaha….. if the cops would just sit out here on hwy30 and hwy40 for 4 hours between the times of 5am/7am and 5pm/7pm they can ticket every tom, dick,and jerry flying to and from arifjan around 160 to 200kmh.. or just setup a checkpoint and collect 10KD fines for all the illegal window tint(if the ministry is hurting for money).

@Longhorn in Q8: All the way from May up till mid July, I had been driving to the Lagoons in Khiraan every weekend between 4 and 7am. Cops indeed were out pulling over/chasing/ticketing,and arresting speeding drivers who did an fact involve the Toms, Jerrys, and the Davids like myself.

Well working 5 days a week I have never seen the 5.0 pulling anyone over, especially in the mornings! In fact, today was the first time I had seen the po-po with his light on,giving a ticket at the 212 bridge, in months! Now Ihave seen a cop or 2 in the last few months racing down 30 with their lights on but chasing no one!

@YM965

The third car is an infiniti M45 V8 2011

by the way guys, I know all these people and they were just having fun in an empty road, can’t tell you where 😉

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