The Southern Municipal Council has launched a new campaign targeting a different kind of traffic hazard on Bahrain’s roads: overly cautious motorists and lane hoggers. In a formal appeal to the Ministry of Interior, the council is urging a major crackdown on individuals who drive excessively slow on main roads, avenues, and highways, creating bottlenecks and sparking dangerous road conditions. To combat this, the council has proposed a system that would officially establish a minimum speed limit of 80 km/h on all main highways. Council Chairman Abdulla Abdullatif explained that the initiative addresses a growing wave of “scared drivers” who crawl along well below the posted limit, even when conditions are perfectly safe. While Bahrain’s advanced traffic cameras already penalize motorists who refuse to yield the fast left lane, officials emphasize that lane hogging runs much deeper and disrupts general traffic flow across all lanes.
Civic leaders point out that excessive hesitation behind the wheel can be just as deadly as reckless speeding. When a nervous driver brakes suddenly, swerves unpredictably, or hesitates to merge, they cause widespread confusion. This frustration frequently forces surrounding motorists into aggressive, improper overtaking maneuvers to bypass the obstruction. This new push coincides with the national rollout of sophisticated AI surveillance cameras across the Kingdom, providing the infrastructure to track, log, and ultimately fine drivers who choose to hog lanes and stall traffic.
