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Kuwait breaks world record in number of traffic deaths

Kuwait has broken world record in number of traffic deaths, with 17 deaths recorded in every 100000 cases on the average, local daily reported quoting Chairperson of Traffic safety society Bader Al Matar. He added that Kuwait roads have the capacity to accommodate 700000 vehicles and almost 1.6 million vehicles ply on the road. He also said the current traffic lights are failed and government must implement online system to manage traffic.

That has to be the most dreadful world record we’ve broken. [Source]

Thanks to everyone who emailed this in

73 replies on “Kuwait breaks world record in number of traffic deaths”

Yeah the fact that to some people, driving is like some videogame gta !!
One of the few reasons why accidents happen is because its easy to buy a car and fuel is cheap. In NY, although there are cars, some people bicycle because to some people in NY, fuel is expensive on the other hand, in here its cheap. Agreeing with Azz and some people had stimulants/ depressant perhaps ? As well as the wasta could be used to some to gain license id instead of putting in the quality hours of training with a teacher.. Those problems will unfortunately never be stopped.. 🙁

They drive like GTA because the roads are literally like GTA, drivers drive below speed limit on the left lane while the right lane is empty and the middle lane isn’t even close to the speed limit, drivers are idle as well and holding their phones and above that they stick on the left lane, when a normal person is trying to get somewhere on 40 and the left lane is stuck because some careless person is trying to check his whatsapp and idles at 100 is not accepted, I see that everyday and drives on the far right faster than the left lane which illegal worldwide but I don’t see police patrol cruise in Kuwait, rarely maybe once every few months and they think the solution is to put more cameras where you should implement a left lane for passing only and get people to drive faster, putting more cameras will only result to more traffic, slower drivers and more accidents.

NY is no Kuwait, but since you said it, fuel is not expensive in the US, it is EXPENSIVE in Europe, try go to Italy and where a liter cost 1.8 Euro comparing to 1 0.90 US Cents in the states.

They should change the heads of MOI to be honest, those old people has been there for so long their brain are simply rusty.

Speed doesn’t kill people as much as reckless driving, go to Germany and look how people drive.

+1000000000000000

It is the difference in speed that is so dangerous here. Too many people come on the on ramp way below the speed limit and immediately go the the center lane. Why?
Then you have all the trucks (that would never pass a safety inspecetion anywhere else in the world) driving 80 Kph in the center lane.

Whereever you sit in the car, you need to put your seat belt on. Yes, even in the back seat. You can still get injured in the back seat…

I think he means the people who buckle the belt before getting in (to turn off the seat belt alarm thing) and then sit with it behind them. 🙂

And yes, everyone should wear a seatbelt, and children should be in car seats (my 26 month old is NEVER in the car without being in his car seat!)

It might help if they actually bothered to paint some lane lines on the 4th ring road. How many months is it now since they resurfaced it?

4th Ring Road is just pushing the limits: No marked lanes, no speeding cameras (just the one where traffic is jammed anyways) and the damn buses!!!

WTF! $15 million on fireworks and can’t paint lanes on a damn road!

And I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen small kids climbing around the inside of moving cars or sticking their heads out of windows. Is there some reason why so few families use child seats in this country?

Education mostly, in the US when you leave the hospital they used to come to your car and CHECK if you installed the seat correctly.

@aaa, i would challenge the education part. While the education is minimal on child car safety, it comes back to basic discipline of children.

First Of All, When You See The Requirement For Driving Licence In Kuwait It Does Not Make Much Sense i.e 400Kd Salary, Uni Graduate. To Obtain a drivers license in kuwait they need to revise these conditions and give driving license to only those people who are aware of road signs and able to drive properly.

Implement a black point system like Dubai, it will pull so many cars off the roads in Kuwait that it will clear up the freeways in no time. But the police have to get off their a** and give tickets. The bus drivers, large lorry drivers poor driving habits are a BUGE problem in Kuwait and I doubt they have uni degrees. Having a uni degree does not determine whether you are a good driver. Come on down to Dubai and see how the black point system has worked, but it also means upgrading the drivers license centres and providing the police with proper training. We do respect our police in Dubai!

Agree 100%

Was in Dubai & Abu Dhabi for a month and amazed to see how the Traffic is coordinated and managed there.

Everything is automated.

Cameras & Scanners almost every where and in very close proximity to each other.

Over there, you can’t risk a wrong turn without getting a fine.

Was surprised to hear that all Traffic Violations are reported to the Car Owners via SMS immediately, latest by the very next day.

With the resources Kuwait has, am sure that we can have an even better system than them.

oh please! thats the last thing we need! we’ll have more of those gals checking their cell phones for violations and banging into more cars while doing so!

It’s not like they aren’t using their phones while driving.

But each time someone violates they law , they are informed / updated repeatedly.

It’s like when we are in school and we are evaluated for our behaviour and performance for the day. If we have been bad, the teacher makes a note of it in the school diary and asks to get it signed from our parents.

Then you know for sure , that somebody’s gonna get hurt real bad…

Here, Most of the time , people check their traffic violations only when there is Car Registration Renewal / Residence Renewal / Leaving the country for Vacation / for Good.

So, daily warnings might work with some people and get them to be better drivers.

For the others, they can always press delete…

Traffic signals must go online ASAP. It is a national priority; one that should eclipse the opening of the Brestige@ the Avenues or that silly girl-what’s-her-face Kardashian’s visit to the State of Kuwait. I find it very disturbing whenever I see drivers with unsupervised children in the front or motorists taking calls while driving.The least the traffic dept can do is to offer all new drivers hands free devices together with a highway code for gratis. The one thing I miss about life in the Kingdom is just how broad the roads would be there: Kuwait can and should do a Saudi on this one. Further, it would help women drivers having a black film on their cars to avoid attracting the attention of certain deranged members of the male species who let their pants do the thinking for them and indulge in hot car chase pursuits of vehicles manned by well, women. For their part women could do well to have an unrestricted field of vision driving and to not wear their mascara at traffic intersections or while they wait for the lights to turn green.Have seen this sorta thing happening twice on the 4th ring road.
People should start getting their license impounded on jumping a red light that may teach them a thing or two about safety first !

I think its case of speed . In a rush to go no where as we say back home. Also regarding car seats . I think its a matter of haveing a family that exseed the amount of seats their car offers. Putting child seats n and then the rest can be very cluttering. Haveing that be said id rather be clutterd then in a box in the ground. Or even worse barry my child befor me. Its simple drive with catution and do the speed limit. Ware your seat belts and use your child seats! not all of us have a death wish. Kuwait is a very educated country and finacally exceeds many other countrys. So why do we drive and conduct are selfs as animals??

OMG Guinness Book of World Records AGAIN? When will they stop with these stupid attempts to break world records???

In less than ten days, we’ve been called by the gulf country with most retard economy, the world fattest country, and today the country with world record number of traffic deaths.

The only good thing in this country is the freebies that everyone gets.

Hi,
There are many reasons for the sorry state of driving in Kuwait. However, surely the problem starts with the driving test that people have to take to actually obtain their licence (that is if they dont use wasta to get it). The test is so so easy that a monkey woudl have trouble failing it. To get your driving license in other ocuntries you have to tkae hours and hours of lessons and pass many tests.In Kuwait? An hour round a dust track somewhere with monkey proof tasks…….
Kuwait, it many ways you make me happy but in so many more ways you make me sad….

So are we going to going to condition to get driving license ? Like
min 600 kd salary
MBA Holder
100 kd renewable nlie for expats (which became 50 earlier this year )

Well according to them this might reduce traffic isnt it ?

@Rehab – wow, i didn’t relise that MBA holders are the only one’s that have the brains to be able to drive a car properly. Trust me, the amount of most likely MBA holders which couldn’t control a potato peeler is astounding. Many are text book smart, practically and socially ‘challenged’.

putting restrictions on driving license is dumb… if you teach a person to drive responsibly, things like this wont happen

i was in australia and ive seen twisted metal here that if ppl in aussie see it, they will automatically say that person was drunk as hell

and the traffic, well, thats just families going to the same place in more than one car cause my ego wont allow riding in the family car

INSTEAD OF USING 4 MILLION K.D. TO BREAK THE WORLD RECORD FOR FIREWORKS… we should’ve used the money to fix this shit.

DO YOU REALIZE HOW GOVERNMENT WORKS… that’s not how it works. There are different departments with seperate budgets. Fireworks don’t come out of traffic.

Also 4 million KD is nothing in terms of national budgets.

In my state in the US, you have to pass a course, pass a written test to get a temporary learner’s permit, and then you have to complete so-many (not sure what the current requirement is) behind-the-wheel driving hours with a certified instructor, and then take the test. And if you are a teenager (probationary driver), you have additional restrictions on you, such as not driving after dark, not driving with other teens(besides siblings), you have to either be enrolled in high school (or a graduate) with no truancy problem, and an absolute 0 alcohol policy, among others. While you are a probationary driver, points for violations are double.
When you are 19, or have completed 3 years with a license (and have not legally lost it for any reason), then you apply for a regular license.

I see the problems in Kuwait are no formalized driver’s education program (should be implemented in the high schools), no general traffic/road/car safety program (should be implemented in elementary schools), no enforcement of road safety rules (we all know this), and of course, the wasta driver licenses.

The monetary/uni requirement is quite ridiculous in my opinion. Just because you have a degree or make money does NOT make you a great driver! Subsequently, just because you don’t doesn’t make you a bad driver. Besides, there are so so so many ‘exceptions’ to the rule that the only people who FOR SURE can’t get a license seem to be the maids/nannies (and I see them driving sometimes – no clue if they have licenses or not), houseboys, and the street cleaners. (ok ok, I may be exaggerating, but not by much).

So many teenage boys drive illegally (without any license at all – they brag about it at school) – one thing that I would do is say if you are caught driving without a license, the car you are driving is immediately impounded and sold at auction (the owner can try to buy it back if they like) with the proceeds going to the orphanage or KAACH or some other needy charity. Maybe the dad’s will actually be more concerned about their boys taking the cars out illegally….

How do you tame the callous bus and truck drivers not to mention the innumerable cab drivers ?! This may sound profoundly racist but heavy duty drivers and cabbies are for the most part from the subcontinent where the concept of defensive driving is nebulous at best ; baptized as they mostly are on offensive driving. Something’s gotta give: either the traffic dept raises the bar up several notches for heavy duty and bus drivers or they look elsewhere to recruit.
As far as I can tell the traffic situation in Kuwait in the recent past was nowhere near half as bad as it is today. Having dedicated bus lanes on all roads motorways included, would help matters to some extent but unless the South Surra and the Jabreya-set embrace car pooling to work and use public transportation more often, congestion on the main arteries into and out of Kuwait City is going to remain for the long haul. For their part both KPTC and private bus operators should take up their corporate social responsibility seriously by having frequent refresher courses for their drivers as also having a dedicated customer service number on display where people can call to register complaints against unsafe driving practices in the hope that such drivers then get pulled up and undergo further training for safe driving technique.

So all in all, there are more CARS in accident than the uneducated drivers, people have to come together to find a common solution to this one. And not only the government, everyone who drivers bears some degree of responsibility to help make the condition better

you cant blame the drivers.. think of it like this, you are bringin someone who probably would never have driven a car, bring him here, get him a license through wasta, and give him a huge bus or a taxi to drive around…

like aaa said.. pay peanuts you get monkeys

its education thats needed, and enforcement of the law.. get rid of the i can get away with anything attitude

If they ever compile blog readers opinions in the world they will find that this blog has experts in every single field – from traffic to t-shirt designs to travel bans to how rap should really sound all the way to tactics in selling sheep.

@Just: I am not trying to otherize here but to my mind that in itself is such an-all knowing comment. ROFL

This news is no laughing matter and affects all Kuwaiti residents. Everyone who drives on the road has a responsibility to ensure they are driving safely (to protect themselves and other drivers).

Apart from the usual GTA nutcases, slow middle lane hoggers are one of the causes for many accidents in the country. Tail gating needs to stop asap.

People do not have respect for motorists here. Indicators mean nothing anymore. When we give an indicator to change lanes, 10 cars will rush past you to ensure that you are not given way.

Right on Kash.. Here the policy is do not indicate if you dont want to be late !! Because when you do indicate other rude and and uneducated drivers purposely get in your way just to make to stop and hate 😉

Here is the thing. I have lived and driven all over the world. Russia, Japan, Korea the US and more. I am a GM certified precision driving instructor. I am also a driver trainer for Department of Defense Fire Apparatus from Airport Crash Trucks to Aerial Ladder Trucks. I am completely sincere when I say that Kuwait has the worst driving I have ever seen. Not just the skill level or lack of common sense but also the lack of courtesy and unfamiliarity with the physics of their vehicles handling and maneuvering capabilities. It is just atrocious.

I’m sorry, you’re staement is wrong. As chaotic as the roads seem in Egypt & Lebanon, and with all the confusion, lack of traffic lights, and 4 lanes in a 2 lane road, in Lebanon and Egypt the flow is great. It looks like everyone on the road has entered into an unwritten agreement. The driving is spontaneous and natural.

*SELF-entitlement. This whole thing with “kaifi” and “ana Kuwaiti/a” needs to come to an end; people need to get off their high horses and come to realize that there are others out there besides themselves. It’s honestly like people here try to be ***holes. Turn on your indicator and the people in the lane you want to turn into speed up. Drive within speed limits and you get brutally tailgated and high-beamed. Get stuck in traffic because the schmuck in the Camaro three cars ahead of you is trying to hit on the girl in the Altima coupe next to him, so they each drive at 20 km/h and stall everyone behind them for miles. Wait at a U-turn and people cut the line to turn from the front of the line and therefore block another lane.

Seriously, people, we have the highest road death rate in the world, the amount of cars on the roads are more than double the maximum carrying capacity and on top of that, ZERO laws are enforced because Kuwait’s finest [the police] are too busy on their iPhones in the squad car on the side of the road.

For someone who loves driving, getting behind the wheel in Kuwait is something I try to do as little of as possible. I don’t think any amount of law enforcement is going to fix this; these people need a blatant reality check.

Feel that most accidents happen because people are too engrossed with their mobiles / smart phones.

They forget to keep their eye on the road.

Been in 3 accidents over a span of 5 Years. Thank God, nobody was hurt. All the 3 times , Kuwaiti women rammed into my SUV because they were on the phone and couldn’t maneuver away in time.

And even after the impact they are still on their phones.

Maybe..if there was an app to remote control their car from their smart phone …

I saw this coming 5 years ago for an umber of reasons. Namely the fact that we don’t have any awareness programs and we tend to treat trauma surgeons and trauma teams like general surgeons. Only three things have been tried and tested to influence mortality in severe trauma:

1) Time to treatment (golden hour rule)

2) public health campaigns

3)Having a specialized set of units and not just having any accident an emergency/surgery/anesthesia person in there.

I honestly did not consider poor trauma care as a contributing factor to fatality rates. I should have, but I didn’t. Thank you.

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