‘Kiki Challenge’ to be punishable as ‘reckless driving’

AMMAN —- The police have warned citizens against participating in the new trending challenge on social media named “Kiki”, citing risks of potential accidents.

The challenge, which was created after the Canadian rapper Drake released his song “In My Feelings”, requires the person to get out of a moving car, and to dance alongside it until the first part of the chorus is finished.

The trend has been picked up by many Jordanians on social media, who have posted videos of themselves or their friends performing the challenge, usually at night or in empty streets.

Central Traffic Department Spokesperson Mohannad  Zu’bi, stressed that “anyone caught doing it will be punished under a violation of the traffic law called reckless driving, and will have his or her car held in custody”.

The first part of the chorus lasts around 30 seconds, which means that doing the challenge will leave the car without a driver while operating in “neutral” for that period of time. “That is enough time for an accident to happen, some even happen in less,” Zu’bi told The Jordan Times.

Amer Sartawi, the spokesperson for the Public Security Directorate (PSD), told The Jordan Times that no tickets have been given out so far and no cars have been held in custody, as no police officer has caught citizens doing the challenge under their watch yet.

“We are aware of the videos being posted on social media, even though no one has been caught in the act. So we sent out the warning statement before this goes viral and starts causing accidents,” Sartawi added.

The PSD has announced that anyone doing the challenge will face a traffic ticket of the first degree, a safety pledge signed by the driver, and the car being put in custody until after a fine is paid.

Reactions on social media regarding the statement have been divided, with some people regarding the PSD’s statement as “too serious”, and replying to it with the hashtag “#don’t_kill_my_vibe”. 

Others have been siding with the statement, especially after videos of people getting hurt while doing the challenge in other countries have gone viral.

Bestwani told The Jordan Times, “even if the person is not caught by a police officer red-handed, any video on social media that shows a clear image of the driver’s face and the car’s plate number will also face the same punishment”.