Taking Away Licenses Is Not The Answer; The Traffic Crisis Will Continue

The government continues to offer capricious solutions and harmful temporary painkillers even as the chronic traffic crisis stagnates for years without a radical solution, by adding a lane or two to the roads or creating a "flexible working time" system, all of which are useless solutions with worn-out reality, deteriorating infrastructure, and overcrowded roads, reports Al-Jarida daily. According to several experts surveyed by the daily, a breakthrough in this crisis could occur within four or five years, accompanied by a technical study. Colonel Haqouqi Khaled Al-Adwani, head of the General Traffic Department's technical office, says developing roads, amending laws, and strengthening the traffic culture in society are the keys to resolving the crisis. According to Jassem Al-Awadi, founder of "Kuwait Comet", the traffic congestion is caused by "our reliance on individual means of transportation, since more than 80% of Kuwait's traffic structure is individual vehicles."

A member of the Municipal Council, Engineer Alia Al-Farsi, said "our problem is overcrowding in the city," emphasizing the importance of providing all services to new cities, which would ease overcrowding. According to Dr. Fahd Al-Rukaibi, former head of the Department of Civil Engineering and Administrative Systems at Kuwait University, crowding has become a daily occurrence. If the average time it took previously for an individual to reach his destination was 30 to 35 minutes, it is now about 50 minutes.

According to retired Lieutenant General Fahd Al-Shuwaya, the former Assistant Undersecretary for Traffic Affairs at the Ministry of Interior, a higher committee should be formed to study this issue. He noted that "no country in the world stops issuing driving licenses and withdrawing expatriate licenses as this is definitely not a solution."

Since 1980, we have begun building the Fifth Ring, Fourth Ring, King Fahad, Riyadh, King Faisal, and Al-Ghazali roads. However, we overlooked an important aspect, which is the establishment of mass transit systems. These roads that we have established should serve us for hundreds of years. It is not true that after 20 or 30 years, the entire infrastructure changes, an example of which is the Fifth Ring Road. We modified it three times – first Al-Khattabi Road, then Abu Al- Qasim Road, and we canceled the intersections, and the third is currently opposite South Surra, and Al- Surra, and this is considered a disaster. Despite not blaming the Ministry of Public Works, it is not acceptable to uproot South Surra from its roots, and demolish the infrastructure that was built and for which large sums of money were paid over the past 20 years. It should have been built from the ground up properly, taking into account all the changes that have taken place without needing to be amended.

The only solution is to provide mass transportation, since it greatly reduces traffic congestion. Expatriates will no longer need a license or a car today if mass transportation is provided to them. In European countries, we use mass transportation instead of taxis."

 

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