ACCORDING to a news report by KUNA “Police patrols are carrying out a special campaign nowadays issuing tickets to drivers of battered cars or those carrying expired driving papers or failing to use the safety belt.” The campaign resulted in issuing 142 tickets Wednesday (Dec 2). The campaign was intended to limit “the negative phenomena affecting the flow of traffic on the streets,” according to the Ministry of Interior’s statement (Arab Times, Dec 3 2009).


As someone who drives on Kuwait’s streets and major roads, I feel that one of the most annoying traffic phenomenons for me, as a sane, hopefully rational and law-abiding driver is battered cars! You see the experiencing of driving around or along with battered cars makes driving a challenging task! I am not calling here for banishing any old car, but the root of this problem is the following; simply put: battered and inefficient cars endanger the lives of other drivers. The general traffic department in Kuwait needs to crackdown on such kind of weather-beaten worn out vehicles because they also endanger the lives of the drivers. They also put the lives of other people at risk.


Yet the issue of battered cars on our roads goes deeper than one thinks. The introduction of such cars on our road begins through certain shortcomings in applying traffic rules and regulations. Traffic department around the country should make it a habit and a rule to confiscate and scrap battered cars. In other words, seizing such cars on the spot during traffic inspections, scraping them and if possible paying a monetary compensation to their owners, are steps in the right direction.


Moreover, why not increase existing penalties in this regard. Instead of only issuing traffic tickets, why not tow the battered car to a designated location to prevent its future use. Such a procedure will protect both drivers of battered cars and others. If such drivers complain, well, they should use the public bus instead of recklessly putting the lives of other people in danger. Furthermore, the general traffic department can restrict driving in certain crowded areas in Kuwait. They can for example introduce a congestion fee for those drivers who wish to go to certain areas. Such procedure seemed to have been applied in certain areas in London, for years. It actually provides the city’s budget with extra money to take care of roads and improve the quality of driving in London! We can do better in Kuwait by preventing driving for good in jam-packed shopping areas especially on those streets with numerous malls. Why not allocate certain free parking spaces in outside areas of shopping malls and start an hourly shuttle service?
Waiting for the owners of battered cars to fix them, paint them, put them into a more desirable shape and efficiency is useless. Such vehicles will continue to threaten the lives of pedestrians, drivers or anyone who is lucky enough to drive by them, around them....etc. - Arabtimes