Director General of the General Traffic Department, Major General Youssef Al-Khadda, announced the withdrawal of 3 thousand driving licenses from expatriates who had changed their profession, or those who were proven to be ineligible to acquire licenses because they did not fulfill the conditions set by the General Traffic Department, since the issuance of the decision on December 15, 2021.
This was disclosed during by the senior GTD official during a meeting which he holds on Tuesdays every week with citizens and residents in the presence of the Assistant Director General for Planning and Research Affairs, Brigadier General Khaled Mahmoud, the Assistant Director General for Technical Affairs Brigadier General Muhammad Al-Adwani, and the Assistant Director General for Education Affairs Brigadier General Hammoud Al-Roudhan, upon instructions of the First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior and Acting Minister of Defense Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled, reports a local Arabic daily.
Al-Khadda indicated that the number of licenses registered on the GTD computer has reached 2.3 million, stressing that there are no exceptions and no one can bypass the Ministry’s decisions.
He said granting driving licenses to resident students or those who have completed their studies remain suspended, and there are no exceptions to this decision, which also applies to housewives, but they have an exception according to the husband’s job.
He disclosed the law is applied firmly and rigorously and pointed out that the GTD has installed about 400 traffic cameras in the country’s various main and external roads, and some internal roads for streets that witness heavy traffic, including 10 modern sixth-generation cameras installed at some intersections, in addition to 100 other cameras for which a contract has been signed and will be soon installed.
He pointed out that the General Traffic Department added the feature of monitoring violations of not wearing a seat belt, using a mobile phone while driving, and driving a vehicle recklessly, stressing that the sixth generation cameras and the features equipped with these cameras will contribute to protecting lives and property.
Al-Khadda explained that the death rate resulting from traffic accidents during 2022 was much lower than the number of deaths in 2021, referring to the reason for the decrease in the death rate to the fact that drivers have become more aware than before and the general behavior of vehicle drivers has changed through awareness campaigns or through violations that are registered against them.