Manama: Traffic authorities in the Red Sea city of Jeddah cleared a Saudi woman of traffic violations and fines that amounted to 300,000 Saudi riyals (Dh293,562).
The violations and fines were transferred to her husband after he was found to be driving the car when the road offences were committed.
In January, Narmeen posted a plea on Saudi daily Okaz asking the traffic authorities to investigate the violations after she received, over some weeks, notifications on her mobile that the car registered under her name had broken the law 375 times. Women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia but they are permitted to register cars under their names.
Narmeen explained that the violations occurred after she filed a case for divorce from her husband. Narmeen’s father also appeared on the video clip asking the traffic authorities in Jeddah to investigate.
“As soon as we heard about the case, we launched a probe into the violations and we obtained all the details from the woman who owns the car,” Sulaiman Al Zikro, the head of traffic in Jeddah, said. “We took the necessary action and transferred the violations to the husband’s record since he was the one driving the car and breaking the rules. We also took the car from him and gave it back to her rightful owner,” he said, quoted by Okaz on Tuesday.
Narmeen said that she was delighted the situation was cleared up.
“The traffic authorities acted promptly after they heard about my case and I am grateful that they have set the record straight and protected me,” she said. “My husband wanted to exact revenge on me after I asked for a divorce by committing the violations which reached 375. I am of course still determined to go ahead with the divorce formalities and the case is now in the court.”
The court is scheduled to review the case in March after attempts by a reconciliation panel to bring the two spouses together failed.
In May 2015, a Saudi woman exacted the ultimate revenge on her husband for taking a second wife by implicating him in traffic fines worth around SR300,000 on his wedding night.
The disgruntled wife took her husband’s pickup as he was celebrating his second marriage and asked her brother to deliberately drive it through red lights where the licence number could be picked up by unforgiving cameras.
A video clip of the pickup driving through a red traffic light, getting caught by the camera, then reversing to repeat the violation went viral on the internet.
The brother and his sister spent much of the evening jumping red lights to register the highest number of fines by Saher, the system introduced by Saudi traffic authorities to check chaotic driving and monitor violations that included mainly jumping red lights.
Under the system used mainly in large cities, drivers are immediately fined for breaking regulations with penalties increasing in case fines are not paid within a specific period of time.
