Failure to carry original driving license, a traffic violation fine

Not carrying the original driver’s license and merely presenting the ‘digital vehicle driving’ license in the ‘My Identity’ application is an offence, punishable by law.

The Al-Rai daily quoting security sources revealed Article 42 of the Traffic Law specifies a set of violations that may require the withdrawal of the driving license, and/or the violator of this law may end up in 15 dinars fine.

This is in addition to the fact that failure to carry the license in the first place is considered a violation punishable in accordance with paragraph 4 of Article 36 of the same law, which indicates that “driving a mechanism vehicle without a driving license, or any other permit required by law or its implementing regulations” is a violation.

The sources pointed out that in the presence of an explicit and clear legal text, it is not enough to show the digital license and not carry the original, noting that the matter differs from the “My Identity” application for civil information, where a decision was issued by the Council of Ministers regarding the approval of the digital civil card issued by the “My Identity” application which can be used for completing transactions at all government departments.

The sources confirmed that despite the announcement that the “My Identity” application will help motorists to show the digital driver’s license in lieu of the original document a number of traffic violations were issued for drivers who did not carry the original driving license and were carrying the digital licence on “My Identity” application.

The sources stressed that any change in the procedures requires a legislative amendment to the traffic law, or a government decision to consider the electronic driving license.