It has become a common trend among celebrities to participate in displays of recklessness and show disdain for laws. Many celebrities have uploaded videos of themselves on social media talking to their phones while driving, Al Rai reported.
This is worrisome as many of these online influencers have become role models for adolescents and youth, and thus their repeated public violations encourage a culture of recklessness. Meanwhile, demands are growing to strengthen the penalties for traffic violations and hold the violators’ accountable by forcing them to face charges for their offenses while driving. This can be done by using surveillance cameras, or by punishing them after they post videos of their traffic violations on their social media accounts, which publicly document violations, which puts their lives and the lives of others at risk, which may also cause deaths.
Official statistics reveal that the highest percentage of traffic accidents are caused by lack of attention, and the highest percentage of traffic violations are recorded also because of inattention and using the phone while driving. What is surprising is the failure in many aspects by the Ministry of Interior to deter law and traffic violators, especially related to using the phone while driving in the car, despite the risk of fatal accidents.
There has been a significant push for accountability with penalties added to the Traffic Bill, which is currently being considered in the National Assembly, after the government referred it to the Council, containing an explicit article to deter phone users while driving. The penalty, according to the new draft law, suggested and “imprisonment for up to three months and a fine of KD200 to KD500 or either of these two penalties.
Al-Khijma: The new law is a parliamentary priority and includes deterrence mechanisms
Chairman of the Parliamentary Interior and Defense Committee Mubarak Al-Khijma announced that the committee will soon discuss the new traffic law, and all the details and amendments, including imposing penalties on phone users while driving.
“The draft new traffic law is a top priority in light of traffic congestion, and we in the committee placed the law among our priorities, especially as it received the approval of the fatwa and the legislation more than once,” Al-Khijma told Al-Rai daily.
He stressed that “the law has defined the mechanism to eliminate traffic congestion that paralyzes the traffic movement in the streets, whether during the Coronavirus crisis or before it, especially since there are more than two million cars in Kuwait,” indicating that the new law will keep pace with the current traffic developments and include a mechanism for deterrence.
“There is a diversification in the chapters covered by the law, especially in the issuance of driving licenses, in the vehicle door, safety and durability conditions, and tightening penalties in addition to car insurance and imposing fees for the operation of vehicles,” Al-Khijma said.
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