The Ministry of Interior announced yesterday that starting September 1st, traffic fines will be issued digitally. This applies to fines given by the cops, for example if you park illegally. Instead of writing the ticket on a piece of paper and then having someone manually enter it into the system, the cops will now be able to issue the ticket digitally and you should get the fine instantaneously.
Problem is, to pay the fines you have to use the Sahel app which as of now is only in Arabic. I can read Arabic (slowly) and it took me some time yesterday to find the section for checking and paying fines so no idea how non-Arabic speakers are going to manage. I guess through a friend.
35 replies on “Traffic Fines Going Digital”
Way too easy to create false tickets this way. Cops have already been handing out fake citations in last 20 yrs this will just make it easier & faster. Everybody should be prepared for “poof” tickets on their record.
I’m assuming its the opposite now because they’ll most likely have to take a photo showing the violation.
totally agree on this. I parked my car below my building to head back and grab my wallet. once i was back the cop fined me and when i asked him why? he replied its illegal to park below the building. I politely told i stay here and this is my building it doesn’t make any sense. to which he replied ” you have a problem go to the traffic dept. and explain”.
Actually no. You can’t park illegally on a street just because you live there.
you are so correct. I’d request you to come to farwaniya or expat residential areas. where lack of parking is a big concern. and you will se how people park their vehicles
Hey mark
Regarding the bit about the arabic language only, you proposed a decent solution, which is to either read it very slowly (which arabic speakers should be able to manage). But for non arabic speakers, which might be upto 30%-40% of the entire population of Kuwait, one good solution to understanding and processing official paperwork, fines etc etc exclusively in arabic could be to leave the country and never look back.
Its not hard to leave the country infact you shouldnt have come (to be honest).
If you cant adopt (or atleast try) the culture or learn the language of the country you are residing in then my friend go back to your own country.
Mr.Mark
Not that you’r an expert in creating and developing applications BUT they are working on the English version of Sahel as you were complaining and typing your keyboard away! about not having any Arabic speaking friends around to help you !. The Kuwait government mr.mark is well aware and the population analysis of expats and nationals.
But hey!
Airports are available anytime you feel like getting out of here since it’s such a hard time for you. It must be a horrible experience for you…
I know English isn’t your main language but you should have a friend translate a post for you before leaving dumbass comments like that. My post wasn’t hostile and your get out of kuwait if you don’t like it makes zero sense in this context. But anyway, I know there is an English app being worked on, I’ve already posted about it before: https://248am.com/mark/kuwait/update-on-sahel-app-in-english/
Dear Mr.Kandari,
with all due respect. Its very easy to say that an expat should learn the language or culture of the country. tell me how many non-Arab expat friends you have? in general when we non Arab expat try to connect with the Arab citizens. firstly from my experience it has always been a disappointing experience. and no citizens would invite you inside their house unless you are VIP high profile expat. if you are open to people then definitely we will be willing to learn or adapt to the countries language and culture.
You dont need to get invited to someone’s house to have a conversation there must be people ar your workplace and ofcourse its not like just in Kuwait even in your own country people would be willing to be friends with highprofile VIPs this is everywhere
No, it isn’t the same everywhere. Even in GCC, the Omanis are way more hospitable (personal experience) and welcoming.
Being ignorant doesn’t really make you right. Just saying..
To Kandari: You seem like just another entitled person who does not understand that Kuwait is the only country where you can find expat that are born and raised here but don’t speak the native tongue and that is all due to the Kuwaiti culture where they only speak to you in a weird made up desi Arabic accent which limits their knowledge + the point ”lonecruiser” made is accurate where South Asian folks are not welcomed and even mocked when they try.
First fix the problem in yourself and then point at others and saying ”go back to your own country” is probably the dumbest thing ever.
I guess we should all go to kandaris house, and chill in his Diwaniya, play Fifa, smoke shisha with him then maybe we can lean “Arabic”,
Kandari Boy is from Iran and he is schooling us to learn arabic,
Yeah my ancestors are from Iran and we have a long and respected lineage which is known (thats how you guessed probably) but sorry to say I dont know where you are from or do you even know who your ancestors are? and btw how fast you started pointing at Iran and things like Diwaniya and Shisha ( guess who is the racist here)
People who keep saying go back to your own country, are either not educated enough to understand how fd up saying that to a person is or the fact that most people came here for better financial opportunities at the same time the expats who came 2 generations ago are the ones who laid the foundations to what most of kuwait is today! not to learn the language and culture (not as if anyone is making an effort to share it with non arabic speakers).
Do not get me wrong I speak, read and write arabic, but i do not understand what i am reading or writing especially because the application uses official formal words that were never taught to me in school, it is straight up racist to say go back to where you came from! Have a little bit of manners or atleast appreciate the fact that the past generations of expats have literally built your country that is today.
I noticed a secondary comment attacking mark for stating the app is currently a work in progress, the news of which was heard in july, the app was launched in December and is still being worked on? Maybe instead of telling people to go back, try realising the ineffeciency or there being no urgency in promoting the app to English users.
I can bet if outsource the work to an expat development company, you will see functional results in probably 10 days.
Don’t be an Ahole to cover up shortcoming that are not even yours to simply defend something you do not fully understand, it just shows your lack of humanity and logic.
you’re right, watch where this attitude takes all of us. People don’t want to be subject to this kind of demoralizing and discriminatory treatment anymore.
We’re in 2023, space crafts are entering orbit faster than apps are being updated to suit the intended purpose in Kuwait. gotta keep up homies.
Paying tickets through the moi website should still be an option.
I’m sure it will be. A lot of paper work that’s on sahel from other ministries is still available on their own websites
camera fines are digital but it takes months to show up!
Kandari, where are you from? I doubt you are from Kuwait.
You need to understand the basics of every language which helps you at work or day to day things. this is true. but you dont need to have that mandatory. Iam living in Kuwait since birth and i dont know how to speak 1 line of Arabic. iam 45 years . I have seen KTV1 cartoons in Arabic Like Jongar, captain Majd , Mufatish Waheed etc etc. but that didnt increase my knowledge in Arabic much. But yea i can graps certain things much faster than a new comer. Thats all.
Plus me being a Non Arab, Non Muslim , my friends , school and community doesnt demand me learining Arabic, thats all.
I think you mindset should be upgraded as its 2023. We are reaching out to the Sun now.
I am from Kuwait and all you guys are attacking me as if I have done something wrong. Wow so you have lived in a country for more than 45 yesrs and still dont want to learn or even try to understand our language. I mean at the end of the day the Sahel app is going to have an english version for “dumb and lazy” people like you. Was it too much to ask for that please learn our local language. I bet you guys havent been to France where even the police dont speak in English or perhaps other european countries such as Belgium where the local application are in their local language and they dont give a flying f—- about English. And yeah I do have many expat friends who cant speak Arabic but the ironic part here is if we are trying to learn english or developing apps in english to ease up the communicarion barrier between the expat community and the local people then the expat community should also play their part accordingly thats all.
First of all it was a response to your comments and not an attack. When i said that i doubt you being from kuwait , i meant you were using a fake name pretending to be a local. English is a Universal language which everyone learns to communicate, instead of saying its mandatory to learn Arabic or look at france or Belgium. to be honest, we had arabic in school , but when you dont need to use it in daily lifes you forget it. thats the story of our lifes. Peace Man.
You clearly have grown up being taught that it is okay to speak to people in a demeaning manner , calling people dumb and lazy because they do not speak they language XD, you may try to hide your hate but it comes out in different form, it is sad that you have travelled so much and still not learnt to respect all cultures and where they come from.
I hope you get well soon, because this mindset you hold brother will never bring you any good.
Mark, if it isnt too much, can you post a quick guide or step by step on this for us non arabs?
Yeah once it goes live I can put a step by step guide
Normally, online revenue generating products are rolled out after due study of target customer segment. If you roll out something that is not market fit, then the intended revenue would not come and the efforts of putting the system is not profitable. Might as well stick to old system.
Successful products are designed considering the limitations of customers and not other way around.
I hope they either include a photo of the wrong parking or have some sort of physical tag (that can’t be forged) placed on the fined car. To prevent false tickets
An unconventional hack for all the non arabic speakers, simply run a screenshot of the app using the Google lens app to translate to understand what you need to click, i know it is not the best way , but as usual we as expats must find a way to make things work, even though we are excluded all the time.
Maybe schools and textbooks could teach people how to read government forms and letters in Arabic instead of silly things like colors and names of animals 🙄
The Sahel Android app is in English, its just the iPhone that is in Arabic
You’re talking about a different app, Sahel app on android is only in Arabic.
u should understand English ui and Arabic ui on android its in English for English users is what he meant.
Last week i got fine for not wearing seat belt. Even though I was wearing it and cop said I wore it after i saw him which is not true.
Everyone should have two facing camera in a car. Mark should post something about in car camera or something.
I really need one. Kuwaiti cops don’t even need a reason to stop and fine you. Good luck if you can’t speak Arabic.
After reading the comments, it’s nice to see the fear in the wannabe locals, it’s ok if they Irani or whatever…. But they scared from the majority expats…. Coz if the expats leave… It’s back to desert