Manama: More than 320 vehicles were impounded in Kuwait over the weekend in a series of unannounced campaigns launched to curb an increasingly alarming figure of traffic violations.
“We have impounded 324 vehicles and recorded 6,233 traffic violations in the six governorates over the weekend,” a traffic official said, quoted by Sabr news site.
Hawalli topped the list of violations with 1,645 bookings and the confiscation of 41 cars, followed by the capital with 1,310 bookings and 21 cars seized by the authorities.
In Al Farwaniya, 875 drivers were fined and 25 cars impounded while in Al Ahmadi, 627 fines were issued and four vehicles impounded. In Al Jahra, traffic police fined 565 motorists and impounded 26 vehicles.
Kuwait has one of the highest traffic violation records in the Arab world and the authorities have been relentlessly pushing for better traffic awareness and road behaviour.
Last week, a Twitter account, allegedly belonging to the traffic directorate, started posting videos of traffic violations like running red lights on a Twitter account. The posts include the full name of the driver, the licence plate and type of vehicle besides the location and time of the violation.
“This is a great move that will help put an end to the series of bloody events that have cost us the lives of our sons and daughters,” an online reader commented. “Besides, accidents block roads and stall our interests.”
However, another commentator said that the decision to post traffic violations on a microblog would not help reduce the number of offences.
“One of the reasons we have so many accidents is the non-presence of policemen or patrols,” the commentator, under the name of Bu Sami, wrote.
