Traffic rules of Kuwait
1. Right of way
Right of way belongs to the vehicle which has it’s bumper 5cm ahead of another, irrespective of whether approaching from the left or right.
2. The Kuwait scissors
When in 3 lanes of traffic, all traffic wishing to turn right should occupy the left hand lane and vice versa. One must then wait until the last possible moment before crossing the other two lanes at right angles to the traffic flow, to do so too early is to lose face.
3. Overtaking
There are four ways to get past the car in front; to the left, to the right, over the top and underneath, also known as undertaking.
4. The weave
Never hold a steady speed in one lane. You can gain as much as 20 meters over a distance of 10 kilometers by continuously swerving from one lane to another whilst invoking rules 1 and 10. The minimum speed for this maneuver is 150kph.
5. Right of way (buses)
Buses do not have right of way; they just take it. Bus horns are frighteningly louder than any others. There are some official boarding and alighting points but the buses will drop off and/or pick up passengers at any place, any time, in traffic, provided that the passenger is sufficiently fleet of foot and oblivious to the threat of traffic flowing around him.
6. Pedestrians
These may cross the road when, where, and however they wish. Be they old, young, agile or decrepit, they have the right to step into the traffic and dodge, dance or merely stolidly move across. However, motorists are encouraged to do their best to hit them, preferably at speed.
7. Traffic lights
There are nine possible combinations of traffic lights in use in Kuwait, they being; red, amber, green, red plus amber, red plus green, green plus amber, red plus green plus amber, flashing amber, and all off. Any selection of these can be found on any one set of traffic lights. The meanings of the various arrangements are not known, but if crossing when the lights are red (or any other combination) and you see a car crossing in front of you, make sure you hit it squarely in the side, if possible, at speed.
8. U-turns
These are used for changing direction. If possible try not to pull out if a car is going past in the outside lane of the croadway you want to pull into. If you are in a hurry, the somersault and roll method is a quicker way of achieving the same result, but avoid the lamp posts in the central reservation. (Please see photo above)
9. Parking
a) Short term: If you need to, just double or treble park, after all the traffic CAN get around you.
b) Long term: Park alongside a yellow and black curb. If you are lucky the police will fit the car with an anti-theft device or tow it to a secure car park. There is however a standard charge for these services.
10. Mirrors
These are not, contrary to popular belief, for looking for vehicles behind you, but are for grooming, adjusting gutrah’s & seeing where the parsley is stuck to your teeth.
1. Right of way
Right of way belongs to the vehicle which has it’s bumper 5cm ahead of another, irrespective of whether approaching from the left or right.
2. The Kuwait scissors
When in 3 lanes of traffic, all traffic wishing to turn right should occupy the left hand lane and vice versa. One must then wait until the last possible moment before crossing the other two lanes at right angles to the traffic flow, to do so too early is to lose face.
3. Overtaking
There are four ways to get past the car in front; to the left, to the right, over the top and underneath, also known as undertaking.
4. The weave
Never hold a steady speed in one lane. You can gain as much as 20 meters over a distance of 10 kilometers by continuously swerving from one lane to another whilst invoking rules 1 and 10. The minimum speed for this maneuver is 150kph.
5. Right of way (buses)
Buses do not have right of way; they just take it. Bus horns are frighteningly louder than any others. There are some official boarding and alighting points but the buses will drop off and/or pick up passengers at any place, any time, in traffic, provided that the passenger is sufficiently fleet of foot and oblivious to the threat of traffic flowing around him.
6. Pedestrians
These may cross the road when, where, and however they wish. Be they old, young, agile or decrepit, they have the right to step into the traffic and dodge, dance or merely stolidly move across. However, motorists are encouraged to do their best to hit them, preferably at speed.
7. Traffic lights
There are nine possible combinations of traffic lights in use in Kuwait, they being; red, amber, green, red plus amber, red plus green, green plus amber, red plus green plus amber, flashing amber, and all off. Any selection of these can be found on any one set of traffic lights. The meanings of the various arrangements are not known, but if crossing when the lights are red (or any other combination) and you see a car crossing in front of you, make sure you hit it squarely in the side, if possible, at speed.
8. U-turns
These are used for changing direction. If possible try not to pull out if a car is going past in the outside lane of the croadway you want to pull into. If you are in a hurry, the somersault and roll method is a quicker way of achieving the same result, but avoid the lamp posts in the central reservation. (Please see photo above)
9. Parking
a) Short term: If you need to, just double or treble park, after all the traffic CAN get around you.
b) Long term: Park alongside a yellow and black curb. If you are lucky the police will fit the car with an anti-theft device or tow it to a secure car park. There is however a standard charge for these services.
10. Mirrors
These are not, contrary to popular belief, for looking for vehicles behind you, but are for grooming, adjusting gutrah’s & seeing where the parsley is stuck to your teeth.
11. Use of vehicle warning systems
a) Horn: Is to be used only in the following situations
- the vehicle in front failed to depart within 1.5 secoonds from any traffic light involving a green or amber light(or any shade of light... see point 7.)
- You notice a passenger on the side of roadway.(He may be inclined to step into traffic without your curteous honk)
- The vehicle in front or beside you did not give way while you are trying to perform points 1 through 4.
- You feel like honking the damn horn.
b) Signal lights: Is to be used only in the following situations:
- There is no situation in which a signal light is actually required. Common sense would say that they will know you are changing lanes or turning by the honking of your horn.
c) Hazard lights: To be used in the folloowing situations:
- If you are forced to slow doown to the posted speed limit by traffic moving at a slower than expected rate
- If you are double or treble parking(point 9). Again, please note, parking is acceptable anywhere and at anytime as long as the hazards are correctly used.
- If you are unsure which direction you will be turning(only time signalling is appropriate). The hazards provide the ability to signal both a right and left turn simultaneously. Other traffic goers are to use their descretion to determine your actual intentions.
- If you wish to run oover a pedestrian(point 6). The running over of women and small children is perfectly acceptable as loong as hazards are used and you have given the 2 quick curteous honks.
Thank you for reading this safe driving tutorial.
Till next time.
P.S. Happy Mother's Day Stella!!
The other day at work I had a meal very unlike anything I have had before. Maybe it is due to the fact that I am not the most worldy person that you may meet, but to me this was a few shades off the norm. I was informed by my Operations Manager that we were going to have a party at work for lunch. I don't have time to explain the differences between his idea of partying and mine, but we will just say that he meant we were having lunch. Lunch was held on a rug, with all of us sitting on the floor surounding what was to be the root of my gut ache that afternoon. In the picture, if you look in the middle, right in front of the grinning egyptian, you will see a large platter. This platter is a bed of rice which is topped with a whole roasted lamb. When I say whole I also would like to clarify that that includes the head, along with the tongue, eyes and brain. After one of the men tears into the lamb with his hands and starts tossing pieces of meat to each of us, we begin to eat. They throw chunks, torn by hand, of the best pieces to myself and the operations staff. at this point I suppose I should be flattered. They then proceed to offer me part of the brain which our maintenace supervisor dug out of the skull with his hands. Not wanting to be a killjoy I, with which was best described as false enthusiasm, agreed to eat it. Not something I will place very high on my favorite culinary experiences, but an experience it was all the same.
