Stricter implementation of punishments for texting, chatting on mobiles while driving coming soon

You may have lost count of the number of times you saw people on the road fiddle with their mobile phones while driving.

While hefty fines are already in place for people who do this, it is going to be implemented in a much stricter manner from now on, reported The Peninsula, citing a source in the General Directorate of Traffic. 

“Now, any kind of engagement with mobile — like playing games, text messages and check other mobile applications — will be considered a violation. Earlier, only speaking on cellphones while driving was considered a violation,” said the official.

Violators will be made to pay a fine of QR500 and will get three negative points as well.

Before the implementation of stricter action, an awareness campaign will be undertaken to inform people about the dangers of using mobiles while driving. It will be conducted through newspapers and social media.

“We’ve noticed that many drivers engage in video games, text chatting and other mobile applications, and some are busy checking social networking sites, which may sometimes lead to a sudden accidents,” noted the official.

The Ministry of Interior earlier said that the traffic patrols will register traffic violations directly against the users of mobile while driving.

Using mobile while driving is one of the most common causes of serious traffic accidents.

“The General Directorate of Traffic found that many traffic accidents happened not just because of over-speeding but drivers’ engagement with mobile phones while driving. Now department will take new measures to reduce the accidents which is caused by using mobiles,” said the source.

“We asked the authorities to increase the violations fine but they rejected, and they changed the violation to mean any kind of engage with mobile and not only talking,” he added.