Traffic offenders given over 21,000 tickets in one week in Kuwait

Cairo: Kuwait’s traffic authorities have disclosed registering 21,924 tickets in one week from December 30 to January 5.

The violations included causing 324 serious accidents and led to the arrest of 37 minors hitting the road without a driving licence, according to official traffic figures.

They were referred to the juveniles’ prosecution while owners of these cars were given tickets. No casualty figures were given.

Moreover, 83 cars were seized in connection with court cases including breaches of trust.

Around 5,800 traffic accidents occur in Kuwait per month, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas reported in June, citing official figures.

The figures mean eight accidents every hour due to high speed and the use of the mobile phone while driving, it added.

Some 135 people were killed in around 29,000 traffic accidents registered in Kuwait, a country of around 4.6 million people, in the first five months of 2023.

In September, a Kuwaiti traffic official said more than 18,000 expatriates had been deported from the country in the previous six months due to different violations, including traffic infringements.

Chief of Traffic Awareness Department Brig. Nawaf Al Hayan said 18,486 have been deported from March to August, adding that the deportees included hundreds of traffic violators.

He told Al Rai newspaper that these infringements included high speed, driving past the red traffic signal, involvement in a road race, illegal transportation of passengers, driving in the opposite direction or without a licence.

Kuwaiti authorities withdrew driving licences from 34,751 expatriates for being ineligible to hold them during the January-August period, according to the official.

He disclosed that a total of 2.6 million traffic infringements were recorded in Kuwait over eight months.

Foreigners make up some 3.2 million of Kuwait’s overall population. Expatriates are now required to pay their outstanding traffic fines before leaving Kuwait.