Kuwait Traffic

During one of our pre-service training sessions at Fawzia Sultan when introducing ourselves we had to answer the question, “Six months from now I hope…” my answer was that I hope to not be so afraid to cross the street. It could be that I have never lived in a city or maybe that traffic laws and common courtesies between drivers doesn’t exist.. regardless, traffic here is something else.

It may seem strange to dedicate an entire post to traffic but unless you have lived or visited in one of the Gulf countries you have no idea what the traffic is like. There is one highway here in Kuwait, called 30, I’m not sure if that stands for a route number or is just the highway name, but it has made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the most fatalities. Many people here say that if you don’t see an accident at least once a day, you’re not in Kuwait. Many wrecks are left on the side of the road for a few days or however long it takes to finish the paperwork. So far I have only seen a few wreckages and alhamdullilah have not been involved in any sort of accident.

Even though car accidents occur frequently and Kuwait is well known for their fatality rate, people don’t wear seat belts or put their children in car seats. It is a habit for me to buckle up, whether I am in the front of back. Because of this I have gained several peoples’ attention, having them turn around and say “you really wear that”? One of my friends wears the seat belt in her car but only because she and her husband haven’t been able to disable the alarm that goes off when you drive without it on.

I have seen a few Student Driver signs and cannot imagine the anxiety or experience of learning to drive here in Kuwait. Not everyone needs driver training; if you are from one of the wealthy families in Kuwait you automatically get your license, without or without practice or the need for a driving test.

Normal rush hour traffic back home (I am thinking of Hartford traffic on 84) goes from 5-7 PM give or take. Here I have noticed two times throughout the day where traffic builds up - in the afternoon around 2 or 3 when schools are getting out and students are getting picked up by their drivers and then at night around 10:30-11 when people are heading out to the malls to shop.

The intention behind this post was not to complain or worry anyone. Traffic here is really just very different from back home and I wanted to share. I feel fortunate to have bus transportation to and from school and plan on doing as much walking as possible once the weather cools off a bit.

I have only two days of teaching this week and then have a nice five day holiday for Eid, the Muslim holiday and celebration that marks the end of Ramadan. I have plans to spend some of the time with friends from school, however, I am also really looking forward to some down time in my apartment. I feel like I am starting to get into the swing of things. I have been able to finally access the school server and read the Science and Social Studies curriculums and will be doing some lesson planning over my break as well. I will be writing soon, inshAllah to talk about the last few days of Ramadan and the Eid holiday.