I’ve been taking the Gulf Road to work everyday now for 7 years. The only time it’s ever been packed with bumper to bumper traffic has been during the first two days at the start of “some” Ramadans (not all). But for some strange odd reason, today for the third time in two weeks the Gulf Road has been bumper to bumper traffic. A 20 minute ride to work is now out of the blue taking 45 minutes and I have no idea why. No roads have been closed, there aren’t any new diversions and it’s not accidents. It’s just random traffic that shouldn’t be.
66 replies on “WTF Traffic”
It should be empty during the morning. I usually go throughout the Gulf Rd. to Kuwait City everyday.
Strange..It seems everyone is tired these days 🙂
People generally DON’T use the gulf road because they assume it’s going to be packed with traffic.
As of late they are using it more frequently because of all the traffic on the other roads.
I go to work on the 4th ring or 5th ring.i have to leave at 7:15 every day even though my work starts at 8:00.
the traffic is always backed up on both these roads and there is ALWAYS an accident on either one. I am so serious!
EVERY SINGLE DAY THERE IS AN ACCIDENT!
i think this is probably the reason there is more traffic on the gulf…
Drove today to work at the same place the picture was taken at 07:20 and there was no traffic. What time was the picture taken?
There was an accident today near the towers. Total overturned vehicle blocking 2 lanes. this was at 8.35 am this morning. The cops and the tow truck was working to remove it.
There was still traffic after the police removed the vehicle. I was stuck in traffic around the Kuwait Towers at around 8.45/8.50.
You will have to change your timings. The traffic here is predictable and people here leave at the same timings. Even if you leave 10 minutes early you could relieve some of this conjestion. I don’t know if Kuwaitis realize how predictable they are, but they are, but one accident as stupid as most of them are, will change the whole road in the AM. I am presuming that a big chunk of the traffic is people who changed routes. Lack of road development, hmmmmmm. maybe that’s a Parliament topic!
“I don’t know if Kuwaitis realize how predictable they are, but they are..”
What does that mean ?? are we the only ones driving to work in the morning ? and how are we predictable in going to work in the morning !
Actually…
There are more foreigners in kuwait than kuwaities, and most of the time its their cars causing the accidents and breaking down in the middles of the road
…Just sayin
+1
its the foreigners that make up most of the traffic .. especially freelance workers.
PS Did you use your new cam for this picture?
I used the iPhone 4S for the shot.
It’s all because of one traffic light “Shaab Traffic light”!! a lot of people go from there to Medan Hawalli for schools and accessing Cairo St. but once you cross that light, gulf road will be smooth. I take that road every day and bumper to bumper starts from Marina traffic light till Shaab Traffic light.
I was there this morning. There was a firetruck closing the road at Kuwait Towers. After I passed it the street was totally empty.
oh that might explain it. I decided to exit the gulf road at the first ring road to try and avoid the traffic so didn’t see it
I find it really funny how the conversation is wandering from horrible traffic conditions to your camera…lol
I find the following reasons for traffic to be jam packed/accidents:
1- The people who take exits into the parking lots and enter again from the other side of parking lots.
2- Gulf road turning from 5 lane to 3 lane all of a sudden at at least one point.
3- Lane changers – these change lanes twice in three seconds, as if habitually..wherever they see an opening for one car, they switch lanes and after a couple of seconds, find another half-opening back into their own lanes.
As Rayboy already told above, that their was a Jeep which was upside down nearby Kuwait Towers. And because of that till Salmiya the traffic was bumper to bumper. Later on Fire trucks came and things were removed from the road.
I know this because my Manager takes Gulf Road in the morning and he was almost 20 min late. He was stuck in that huge traffic for almost 1 hour (Salmiya to Salhiya)
Reason for WTF traffic:
Everyone wanted to be featured in your Car Cam
in general non Kuwaitis is causing the traffic coz they are around 2 million or more
Nope, like I said all of my traffic is caused by KU (mostly Kuwaitis), when school is on vacation I have no traffic.
Besides foreigners carpool or take public transport way more than Kuwaitis, Kuwaitis have 1 person per car lol at work the foreigners come 3-4 guys in a car lots of the time.
that is soooo true!
Almost every person i know carpools or takes a coaster or something…veen if they HAVE cars…
I don’t see anyone carpooling on my route. No one carpools, expat or local everyone drives their own car to work if they have a car. They would only carpool if they don’t have cars.
I car pool all the time with my friend (we have three cars between us), since we both work next to each other.
There are other people at my office (that have cars) that carpool. Its just easier to not have to deal with the traffic going and coming to work.
I remember a while back there was a campaign from the MOI encouraging car pooling as well.
I’d say that taxis and buses are part of the problem. Both are driven by crazy people.
Most of the time they drive/stop/change-lanes suddenly without bothering to check if they have enough distance between them and the surrounding cars. I’ve seen many close-call situations because of those incompetent drivers!!
and i leave home a 6:40!!
Carpool? it seems like you live in a different country or something.
The majority of non Kuwaitis have more than one car per family.
Those small old cars in streets belong to Kuwaitis or people from god knows where?
WE kuwaiti people are around one million and so.. but foreigners exceeded 3 millions.
Schools in this country have Kuwaiti students and also non Kuwaiti students. If as you said only Kuwaitis then tell me those other nationality’s children don’t go to schools or what?
tomorrow morning, in the middle of the traffic look around you, how many Kuwaiti people in each car and how many foreigners driving then maybe you will understand.
If you’re Kuwaiti you should know that Kuwaitis make up 98% of KU students and those were the ones I was complaining about. Private schools foriegners go to cause traffic in areas like Salwa, Salmiya and Hawalli but I don’t live or work there.
And no, I’m a Kuwaiti living and working in Kuwait and a very large number of the foreigners where I work carpool, even if they have more than 1 car.
Also the figure is closer to 30% Kuwaitis, don’t make it sound worse than it is. Of course you are going to have lots of foreigners when a Kuwaiti family of 5 has 5 maids, and because Kuwaitis refuse to pay more for services or do “degrading” jobs they hire cheap labor from abroad. Would you work stocking shelves in a jam3iya? Or filling gas at a gas station?
I know a lot of KU students who carpool, especially girls who live in the same area or somewhere near each other.
It’s fun and makes it a lot easier for them.
The problem is not non-Kuwaitis, if this is a problem why do not you ask yourself why there are no shortcuts to the construction of roads or bridges or local trains new? This is not a problem in your government who have the oil and petroleum, which is enough to run the entire globe
I work in Shuwaikh and have to leave home at 7 to get to work at 8, it’s much worse this year. The main reason is there are more students going to KU this year than previous years and the KU campuses close to us cause all the traffic :I When school is out I get to work in 10 minutes.
or Kuwaitis now are going to work more often, after all these increases the government is now implementing finger printing machines for staff to enter and leave work. and i guess thus much more are starting to go to work at-least.
you must be joking heee
its just the ripple effect of people breaking for unknown reasons! i take gulf road every working day from Salmiya to KOC & there is no way to avoid people driving as if they’re out for a picnic!
I hate that annoying ripple effect! Whenever people approach a traffic light (with NOBODY in front of them!) , they just brake!! and everybody does it after them… :@
Count yourself lucky, my work is in ftz, and take the 5th ring, on average the trip that could be done in 10 minutes takes on average 45 minutes. Last week it took me an hour and a half. By the time I got to work I was so tired and stressed out from the crappy drivers I wanted to go back home.
Leave earlier 😛 If I leave at 7:00 I get to work at 7:45, if I leave at 7:15 I get to work at 8:30. Sucks
aaa is correct. 10 minutes can make a difference on Kuwait roads and all Kuwaitis seem to leave at the same time, they’re predictable.
Here is the predictable thing again ! 🙂 Yes, i have to say that we coordinate between each other in the morning, when to leave ALL together at the same exact time !
Perhaps through a crazy coincidence everyone has decided to try a similar new lane?… or the population suddenly grew…
It’s just as crowded going the opposite way to the camp at 6 am and it’s not due to KUWAITI people either, it’s due to FN buses and cars. Majority of the cars are driven by single FN guys so don’t blame all traffic on Kuwaitis. When they roll 6 deep to a 1980’s Corolla I guarantee you it won’t go over 120 and they still hang out in the fast lane.
At 4 pm it’s just as crowded going home, again majority is single FN guys with KSA tags. The population has increase over the years. I used to make it from Marina to Fintas in 12 minutes, now I can’t get out of the parking lot in 12 min. I never go to Salmiya due to traffic.
@crazyinkuwait, I don’t do Salmiya either due to traffic, haven’t been there in years. Don’t do Kuwait City Either, Fahaheel, etc etc etc. Hell, I do everything Friday morning. Going to work is not too bad in the morning. I really am lucky I guess, I rarely get caught in gridlock or see policemen, but I don’t go out at night. I truly enjoy driving in Dubai.
Why go over 120 when the limit is 80 on Gulf Street?
I co-own the family business so I leave home at 9am 😛 but still takes me 30-40 mins to go to Kuwait City from Salwa.
If I want to be there at 8am I have to leave 6:45am. The U-Turn opposite the Salwa Co-op is a nightmare at that time.
Today is Diwali (Most Popular Indian Festival) Mark that’s why all this traffic is about… by the way Happy Diwali Mark 😀
people drive well -> no traffic..
People driving well makes traffic lights dissappear? I didn’t know that
well as far as my observation is its due to the increase of vehicles. new vehicles have been sold out and old are still in the market. its not gulf road, its every where. 4th ring, 5th ring, they are all jam packed at specific timings. every house has got 2 to 3 vehicles. so it is definite that bumper to bimper situation will occur. 2 weekends ago i left from home at 7:30 from salmiya, reached Avenues at 8:30. on my way on 5th ring there were 3 accidents. 2 were minor and 1 was terrible. than i wandered at Avenues Parking till 10:00PM couldn’t found any parking place. so what is all this. its all about Kuwait Traffic. Government now should seriously think about conversion of 3 lanes to 4 or 5 lanes motorways….
hmm its always like that I remember going to uni =/ always blocked -_-
And for those who are talking about that who is responsible. its not about Kuwaiti or Expat drivers. Its increase in number of Ex-Pats, Taxi Services, 2nd or 3rd Hand cheap Imported Vehicles. It made the roads narrow 😛
There must be a taxi for every person in Kuwait. Get rid of all the Taxis!
To All: If your government built a transport system, built civil bus stops, improved bus transportation, guess what you could pull all those old cars off the road and the expats would take transport. You know how many cars would be pulled? Alot. Also, there is no enforced laws on the roads for buses and trucks who drive like banchees because they are not qualified to drive.
I think the Expat:Kuwaiti ratio has actually been going down recently. Either expats aren’t coming in as much or Kuwaitis are having a lot of kids (it’s both)
Reasons: poor driving…scratch that, horrible driving skills. When people switch lanes every few meters and follow too close behind people they end up hitting the brake too much causing what’s known as Ghost Accidents. It’s like a 35 car pile up without cars actually hitting each other.
Also the infrastructure was set in late 70’s without any major upgrade since then. The population is increasing tremendously but no significant improvement to the highways, roads etc.
“When people switch lanes every few meters and follow too close behind people they end up hitting the brake too much causing what’s known as Ghost Accidents. It’s like a 35 car pile up without cars actually hitting each other.”
^^ This.
I think the problem is mainly in the infrastructure, the roads were made without planning for this kind of growth, the cars are faster with much better acceleration the idea of a road going on 80km/h for 30km is insane.
Secondly 4 lane road exists in 1 lane it doesn’t even make sense. and add to that at the end of this exist there is a traffic light that is poorly programmed if not set to go on at random time.
we need more brains in designing the roads there must be a better solutions for traffic lights.
Also forgot, if people don’t stop to watch the accident it would reduce the traffic jam by at least 70%.
@ZeroSystem AND did they not realize that you need street lights on both sides of major freeways?! With all the trash on the roads,which people can’t see at night due to poor lighting, this also causes accidents. Who’s running this place???? It’s like I’m in India. Didn’t mean that to be offensive, Happy Divali:)
Its great you brought this subject, seems that everyone is facing this issue and no one is talking about it which is causing a lot of frustration.
At some point years back we did not have this much drivers and cars on the roads. Blame the Kuwaiti Lack of planning that the population of drivers (each driver using 1 car) over flooding the roads.
Why ?
because all the business are located in one dense area, which is even growing in towers year by year. More towers more businesses more employees more cars more traffic.
Today, you need to leave your house before work 45 minutes early to be there on time, in 5 years if no solution is looked into you will need to leave to hours early.
Another reason why it is crowded these days is people actually started going to work (governmental sector) some entities have 3 finger stamps scheduled per day (7:30am – 10am – 2pm)
What is the solution ?
a) Businesses should change their timing – to not conflict with school timings – if you notice when schools are off it is less crowded (7:45 – 3:45 / 8:45 – 5:45 / 9:30 – 6:30)
b) create another business district towards Ahmadi to split the traffic in two directions
c)Fix the roads – chicago has 3 highways ontop of each other, why can’t we have that if we have a high concentration in Kuwait City
and whoever thinks the metro will solve the problem, they are mistaken
Till this moment, there is no light at the end of this tunnel, its dark beyond black.. Its already to late to solve this problem, in 5 years a disaster is going to burst from traffic.
the other day i was thinking, what if there was police car distribution along the high way till the end (kuwait city traffic light) where cops can communicate through their walk talky and ask the cop at the end point traffic light to keep it green and keep the flow of cars going until the traffic clears up. I admit, that was wishful thinking 🙂
mark the main reason is you are in a parallel world and YOU ARE LATE !
smelly buses?
loOoooooOOOOl
welcome to q8 man were traffic happens 4 no reason or gust for fun
Has no one else noticed we have a traffic problem in Kuwait? Not an isolated day..every single day…its frustrating. Whether its the fifth or sixth ring road or 30 or 40 its just torture.
Even on 4th ring road madness starts from 7.15 am
It is constant these days – regardless of the time of day – and road rage is much more prevalent. I don’t even like to go out to eat anymore in the evenings.
The traffic all over Kuwait is now jammed 24 hours a day. There are more cars than humans. Each family has a driver and each child has a driver – They don’t want to send kids in buses therefore driver goes to pick them up adding more burden to the already so many cars.
People in authority are very slow and un-logical in creating sustaiable solutions for the traffic or anything else.
Just accept the trash and smile. This keeps them happy.
Damn I wish I could express myself more openly but hey I live here now do’t want to be deported, jailed or hanged or my neck cut off.
Oh road rage commentator – Road Rage is a norm here – when I drive I look back and not front fearing to be hit from the back.
Everyone is in a rush and comes behind you at a speed of 200kmp like i do’t kow what’s happening a damn war zone.
I don’t know why despite seeing so many deaths and accidents they don’t learn.
For fucksake people have kids, parents, loved oes on the street – The road is not your fathers, just fucking stop this bullshit you piece of shits. Thanks for approving this comment, because they deserve this.
Well said. Also, most people do not wear seat belts, don’t flash indicators to change lanes, go toooooo slow or tooooo fast. Nobody gives a damn for the other. 🙁