Driving in Kuwait – going by an accident

Update
This was in the newspaper today about the accident along with a small photo (I could have sent them mine, but I’m not sure if I’m such a voyeur.) Typical reporting on the many accidents.

Car flips over
A 40-year old woman was injured after her car filled over after colliding with another car in Adan. the lady was rushed to the hospital while the other driver escaped unscathed.

Well in fact, she wasn’t so rushed considering we spent over 15 minutes in the traffic jam just to get past the accident scene and meanwhile ambulances passed by going the other way. And, of course, if the ambulances were coming our direction, nobody would move aside for them as they packed the road, driving even on the shoulder to get by.

People are always driving terribly here. And of course, you know what it leads to:

Another car crash in Kuwait, originally uploaded by Mister Ian.

We were on the way to Savitri’s piano lesson in the afternoon and were delayed by this recent accident. Yes, that is a victim lying on the road. It isn’t like the west here. It takes a long time for the ambulance to arrive. Cars don’t make way for them. And, of course, the other problem is that trucks and buses are always driving with their lights flashing, and the police do this also, so it is pretty hard to tell what a real emergency is. I saw that in India, too.

And the people here do not wear seatbelts and you often see a women in full veils driving which is I hear illegal. No peripheral vision. And also, there are very often kids in dad’s lap with perhaps dad on the cell phone and smoking a cigarette. For sure, the mobile phone is standard equipment for drivers. You know just how bad that is.


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