Kuwait has introduced new traffic rules with enhanced fines for violations on roads in the country.
Kuwait has begun implementing new and more stringent laws aiming to curb traffic deaths and protect lives, with such legislation marking a watershed in national efforts to ensure road traffic safety and protection.
The new rules, which come as a by-product of a sharp rise in traffic crashes and violations over the past years, are tantamount to an effort to generate more road safety awareness, while the new law gives police officers the authority to detain those committing grave traffic violations, chief among them speeding above the 50kmph limit.
Kuwait traffic fines
A glaring example of such infractions would be crossing the red traffic light, which will met by a harsher penalty of a fine worth KD 150 ($490), while reckless driving that endangers other commuters’ lives will be treated as a criminal behaviour in a bid to clamp down on such road irresponsibility.
The new law also strictly prohibits cell phone use while driving, a violation that carries a KD75 ($245) fine, up considerably from the previous KD 5 ($16), while failure to wear a seatbelt is punished by a fine of up to KD30 ($98), in addition to a KD150 ($490) fine for driving in a reckless manner, according to the new rules.
The new law went on to single out driving while under the influence of any form of an intoxicating substance as a traffic violation that would be referred to court immediately, carrying a penalty of no more than a KD3,000 ($9,810) fine and jail term that does not exceed two years.
According to government data, the numbers of traffic-related deaths and violations have seen a “harrowing” increase in recent years, attributing lax rules and regulations as justification for the rise in pedestrian fatalities, it said.
Kuwait’s interior ministry had launched an extensive campaign on the matter, aiming to boost public visibility and awareness for the new traffic law, while a number of officials have appeared on state television to discuss the minutiae of these regulations.
