KUWAIT CITY, Sept 28: At a time when the streets are witnessing horrific traffic accidents due to recklessness and lack of abiding by the traffic rules while driving, in addition to using mobile phones and speeding, the leadership of the General Traffic Department is awaiting the approval of a law to increase penalties for traffic violations in order to deter violators and put an end to the loss of lives.

According to traffic leaders, the current traffic law must be amended and the value of violations and penalties must be increased in order to be a deterrent to violators. This was evident years ago when they saw a reduction in the number of violations related to parking in spaces allocated for the disabled after the penalties were increased. These violations had decreased from 60,000 annually to 400. This requires amending the current traffic law so that everyone adheres to the traffic rules and laws, and the number of traffic violations decreases.

The leaders of the General Traffic Department appealed to members of the National Assembly to amend the law to increase penalties for the traffic law, which is the responsibility of the parliament's Interior and Defense Committee, and to place it among the priorities of the next session.

However, a number of parliamentarians believe that raising the value of traffic violations may constitute a burden on the citizen’s pocket.

In this context, Brigadier General Khaled Al-Adwani from the General Traffic Department said in a television interview that, "We are the only ones in the world who have not changed the traffic law. The other Gulf countries amended it more than once to be a deterrent to violators, indicating that deterrence is through harsher penalties.

We have reached the point where anyone who adheres to the traffic law and wears a seat belt dies due to a reckless act by others. The loss of lives must be preserved by increasing the penalties because the main way to solve all our traffic problems is to amend the current traffic law.

If the value of some traffic violations is KD 5, how can it serve as a deterrent? Those who disagree with this value affirmed that the current law does not save lives.

When the violation of parking in spaces allocated for the disabled was referred to the General Administration of Investigation and registered as a misdemeanor, the number of such violations decreased from 60,000 annually to 400 or 600 violations. This confirms that harsher penalties contribute to adherence to traffic rules and laws, which can in turn save lives and protect road users.

The number of indirect violations reached seven million violations."

Brigadier General Khaled Al-Adwani stressed the need for traffic culture to be present in kindergartens as a compulsory subject in order to raise a generation that respects the law.

Furthermore, the General Traffic Department had previously announced the death of 160 people due to accidents during the first half of the current year, and an increase in the number of traffic accidents by 42,659 traffic accidents compared to this period last year, as the number of traffic accidents in the first half of last year was 38,860 traffic accidents.

In a related context, the General Traffic Department, under the guidance of the Assistant Undersecretary for Public Security, Traffic and Operations Affairs Major General Abdullah Al-Rajaib, and the Director General of the General Traffic Department Major General Yousef Al-Khadda, is carrying out continuous traffic campaigns throughout the week to arrest reckless motorists, seize their vehicles, and refer them to court.

By Munaif Naif
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff