RIYADH, 2 January 2007 — In a bid to gather feedback from the public on a series of new traffic laws in the Kingdom, including one that makes driving while talking on a mobile phone a violation, the General Directorate of the Traffic Police in Saudi Arabia intends to publish all of the new laws in the local press next month. The traffic police expect the laws will be enforced in six months.
Speaking to Arab News, Maj. Gen. Fahad Al-Bishr, director of the Traffic General Department, said the implementation of the new law would follow a process of fielding feedback from the public, which is the purpose of the publicity campaign.
“The purpose of publishing the new traffic law in the local press is to gather feedback from the public on its articles,” Al-Bishr said. “We can then gather the feedback and discuss it with our panel of experts before the implementation takes place.”
Other laws include prohibiting convicts or persons who have criminal cases pending with the courts from being able to obtain or renew their driver’s licenses.
A new law will also impose a deadline for resolving traffic fines. If a person fails to pay the fines on time, he will be penalized further.
Also under the new law, police must be informed when a car registered in the Kingdom is sold abroad or is damaged. In such a case, the registration card and the Saudi license plate must be handed over to the traffic police. A fine will be slapped on those who fail to comply with the directive.
The new law mentions that the owner of a vehicle who allows a person without a license to drive his car is fined SR900. If that person is involved in an accident, the owner shares the responsibility of the damages.
And in a new initiative by the traffic police, compounded cars, whose owners have failed to settle their dues with the traffic police in 90 days, will be sold at public auctions.
The traffic police began issuing last year new license plates with four letters and four digits to replace old ones. The new license plate contains a magnetic code for security purposes. Vehicles with old license plates can continue using them until their car registration is due for renewal.
