We’re positive that this is a question that crosses your minds at least once a day; ‘til when will the roads remain this crowded? We’ve often attributed Kuwait’s traffic as unnecessary, manageable, and more importantly, disruptive! An intolerable phenomenon, we won’t even get into describing the traffic during our more than regular dust days, where everything seems to come to a screeching halt, and no heed is given to driving in a safe manner. It truly saddens us to type this sentence, yet the notion of safe driving practices escapes most drivers on a regular basis, so why should safe traffic practices be of any significant concern on dustier days? Instead of delving into the scarier numbers of traffic violations, traffic accidents, and deaths caused by unsafe traffic practices, let us immediately consider the solutions that will drive credible change.
Le Mita Za7ma (‘til when will the roads remain crowded?), the Arabic slogan for a youth driven awareness campaign aims to tackle this issue head on.
You might perceive the traffic phenomenon as a purely local, or Kuwaiti, happening as we are directly affected by aimless traffic jams and saddening accidents on a daily basis. However, traffic regulation and monitoring is an issue of regional proportions. As Kuwait marked the Arab Traffic Week last May, Le Mita Za7ma emerged as a shining initiative organized by the youth. Instead of waiting on legislation, the populist movement took shape on twitter under the handle, @Le_Mita_Za7ma and #Le_Mita_Za7ma, where pictures of useless traffic jams, traffic warnings, traffic violations were sent to the twitter accounts home page. In an unprecedented manner, a constructive dialogue emerged between the youth and publishing authorities such as Al Watan, and even our very own Ministry of Interior. Instead of negative remarks aimed at blaming or attacking certain segments of society, the tweets are indeed helpful and informative, geared towards offering plausible solutions and feasible goals to combat the traffic phenomenon.
The surge of involvement and voluntary action from the local youth is truly remarkable, demonstrating how positive intent can breed positive action that is credible and constructive. Since it’s young inception, Le Mita Za7ma vowed to end the problems caused by the ever-increasing traffic phenomenon, sharing more than one thousand images via its twitter account to reflect the magnitude and severity of traffic congestion. Providing its support, Al Watan also adopted the campaign on its website portal and twitter account, sharing pictures, traffic warnings and safe practice measures with its online followers. The youth delegation from Le Mita Za7ma deems that their campaign is open-ended, and will continue until feasible action by the government is taken to end the problems caused by traffic congestion. Official support was quick to follow, as the local government authorities are determined to show their support towards the youth driven movement, offering to take up the dynamic suggestions offered by the youth.
Sharing his thoughts on this new campaign is youth member and volunteer Abdullah Al-Haddad, where he states, “As a member of the campaign I would like to invite all the Kuwaiti youth to be a part of this campaign and be positive about finding the right solutions to prevent this problem from happening as I’m sure that non of Kuwait’s citizens enjoy the traffic we experience everyday especially in our unbearable weather conditions during the harsh months of summer.”
Be a part of change immediately, follow Le Mita Za7ma on Twitter @Le_Mita_Za7ma, tweet them your road side tips, traffic warning pictures, or any information that might help. Spread the word and add the hashtag, #Le_Mita_Za7ma to your tweets!
