Manama: A Kuwaiti who drove a car with fake licence plates and committed more than 280 road safety violations has been identified.
Police said the driver used the bogus plates for months to dodge paying for his repeated infractions. He accumulated KD9,000 ($23,000) in fines.
The search for the driver was launched after the police noticed that the licence plates recorded on their traffic cameras did not match with the details of the car registered in the department.
Police got lucky when they spotted the car parked in front of a house and they summoned the Kuwaiti driver, local Arabic daily Al Watan reported on Thursday.
He initially denied the charges and insisted that he was not aware that the plates were fake, but eventually confessed that he knew that the car he had bought one year earlier did not have the proper registration numbers.
Most of the road infractions he committed were jumping the red lights, the police said after checking the traffic cameras.
He was immediately put on the list of violators who must pay their fines or have their dealings with all interior ministry departments suspended.
According to the daily, the driver is attempting to take his case to the court where he would argue for a substantial decrease of the fines he has to pay.
In a strong move to address road chaos and create a more positive road culture, Kuwaiti authorities have launched a massive campaign to address infractions, apprehend violators and impound vehicles that are not roadworthy.
The crackdown was supported by administrative measures that banned violators who failed to pay their fines for years from engaging in any dealing with the interior ministry, including renewing driving licences.
A travel ban was also imposed in the bid to recoup millions in traffic fines.
