Muscat: Police arrested a young Omani driver on charges of reckless driving in Al Sadah area of Salalah province in the southern part of Oman.

The driver rammed his vehicle into onlookers, when he was performing a drifting stunt.


One of the onlookers who was hit by the vehicle suffered medium injuries, an official at the Royal Oman Police, told Gulf News.

The drifting stunt video had gone viral on social media platforms.

The official informed that drifting stunts on roads has seen a sharp decline in Oman due to hefty penalties.

Drivers who perform drifting stunts on roads can face jail terms of up to three months and be fined up to 500 riyals (Dh4,752), as per Article 42 of the traffic law.

“Intense police patrols nationwide have also significantly curbed the drifting menace,” said the official.

He said very few such cases have been reported in 2016 compared to 2015, when 50 cases were reported.

Dozens of drivers were arrested in 2016 and more than 50 vehicles confiscated from drivers caught putting other road users to risk by performing such stunts.

Five people were killed in drifting-related accidents in 2016.  Many arenas where such dangerous stunts are performed lack the minimum safety requirements. Incidents of drifting stunts on roads have mainly been reported from the provinces of Ibri, Sohar, Rustaq, Barka, Nizwa, Salalah and Shinas.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Regional Municipality and Water Resources (MRMWR) has started building dedicated arenas at six locations across the country offering the highest safety standards for youths to perform drifting stunts. The arenas are being built in Shinas, Ibri, Thamrait, Adam and Musannah provinces.

Khalid Hamdan, a psychiatrist, earlier told Gulf News said that too much spare time and a lack of educational involvement are the main factors behind the drifting craze.

Figures from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) show that 692 people were killed in road accidents in 2016, compared to 975 in 2015.

Speeding and wrong overtaking have been cited as the main causes of road accidents in the country.