Insurance must for licenses
Visible car plates mandatory
Interior Minister to set vehicle limit, taxi fares

Learner drivers need permits
Fines up to KD 300, jail for major offenses

KUWAIT CITY, Jan 20: The Law No. 5/2025 was released on Sunday amending some provisions of Law No. 67/1976 on traffic. It will be effective in three months since its publication in the official Gazette. The modified law stipulates that the issuance or renewal of a license is conditional to obtaining insurance. The Minister of Interior releases the rules, terms, insurance fees, and cases where the insurance companies pay compensation for the accident upon settlement. Each moving vehicle must bear two plates, provided by the traffic directorate general once the licensing procedures have been completed. One must be posted in the car’s front and the other in the back. The Interior Minister is entitled to set the maximum number of licensed vehicles. He can also set the taxi fares. The plates must be visible, not blurred and fixed. Any person seeking to learn driving, a vehicle or a motorcycle, must obtain a permit from the Traffic Directorate General. The driving license, granted to a person for the first time, can be withdrawn in the cases where the driver commits two offenses as stipulated in the provision of 33 except for the term 3 and 33 repeated and 38 and can obtain a new license four months after withdrawal of the first one.

The amended law mentions strict penalties such as imprisonment no longer than three months and a KD 300 fine -- no less than KD 150 -- for the following offenses: Driving the vehicle without knowledge of the owner or a person who has the license, in the case where the vehicle has no plate or damaged one with blurred figures, in the case where there is no license or availability of an expired one, abstention from providing policemen with the driving license and the vehicle’s papers, using illegal lights and other banned devices, parking on sidewalks or pedestrians’ alleys, parking it on the highways at night without turning on the blinking lights, driving opposite the traffic direction, changing the car’s color or replacing major parts without obtaining a permit from the directorate. It also listed many other cases that are punishable by the authorities. (KUNA)