Thursday 22 / May / 2025
Muscat: Traffic offences registered by public prosecutors give an insight into the number of faults committed on roads in the Sultanate.
Drivers were fined for a number of violations, including driving 75 kilometres above the speed limit, jumping traffic signals, causing an accident that resulted in the death or serious injury of another, in addition to driving under the influence of drugs.
Of the 417 fines, 332 were issued against Omani defendants, amounting to 79.62 per cent of the total number of fines issued. Of the Omanis fined, 313 were males, eight were juveniles, while 11 were female drivers.
According to a road safety expert, this is not alarming as the number of Omani drivers are more compared to the residents of other nationalities. Data from the Public Prosecution showed that more than 417 fines were issued in 2017.
And the maximum number of cases registered by Public Prosecution were against the Omanis, new data released by the judicial authority revealed.
Automotive Expert and Chairman of the Oman Road Safety Association Ali Al Barwani explained the high number of violations by saying, “The reason for such a high number of Omanis breaking the rules on the road is mainly due to the high number of nationals in the country. It is quite inevitable that the road users in the country are its citizens itself.” Despite frequent warnings and multiple awareness campaigns, motorists continue to commit violations.
“In addition to that, it is disappointing to see that despite all the road safety campaigns that we are organising out there, which are 80 per cent in Arabic, people are not really taking safety measures on the road. The number is not a good sign. We expect the numbers to be much lower this year though,” Al Barwani added.
Drivers, he continued, were possibly not paying attention to speed limits, resulting in more traffic violations.
“I believe that when drivers get comfortable driving on the roads, they tend to ignore the speed limit. Therefore, it is always advisable to keep your eyes open and pay attention to all the signs installed at the corner of the roads,” Al
Barwani said.
Data from the Public Prosecution, however, show that Omani drivers were not alone when it came to committing traffic violations. Pakistani nationals came second with 28 cases, followed by citizens of other Arab states with 14 cases, Indians with 13, Bangladeshis with 11, and 10 registered against Gulf nationals.
Additionally, there were two cases involving traffic violations against citizens of Oman’s northern neighbour Iran, with a solitary case brought against a European national and five others against those from none of the aforementioned countries.
Speaking about the high number of cases registered against Pakistani nationals, Mohammed Zaeem, General Secretary of the Pakistan Social Club Oman, said, “There could be multiple factors linked to this. However, on behalf of the Pakistan Social Club Oman, I would like to request all the Pakistani drivers to take precautions and abide by the rules and regulations put forward by the authorities for their own safety and that of everyone else.”
To promote road safety, Zaeem added that the social club would hold multiple workshops to educate the general public on the fundamental importance of safe roads and the measures they can take.
The Pakistani Social Club’s efforts are in line with the recent “Strap ‘Em In” car seat drive, which was launched by the Oman Road Safety Association in partnership with the Times of Oman. The national campaign highlighted the importance of using car seats to reduce the rate of child and infant mortality in motor vehicle crashes.
According to Oman’s revised traffic safety laws, which were instituted on March 1, 2018, not using a car seat for a child under the age of four is a category four offence, which could result in a fine.
Repeated violations of the law will result in harsher penalties.
The rule is also in keeping with Article 217 of the Omani Penal Code, which states that a person who puts a child below seven years of age, or a vulnerable person, in a dangerous situation and/or abandons them shall be jailed for a minimum of three months, or up to one year.
This sentence can be doubled if the person committing the violation is a parent or guardian of the vulnerable individual.
According to the annual report released by the Royal Oman Police and Directorate General of Traffic in Oman in 2016, one in every eight deaths on the roads involved a child.
Children under the age of 15 made up 12 per cent of all accident-related deaths, while accounting for 82 of the 692 fatal accidents that occurred. Additionally, 48 of the dead children were aged five or under, while overall, 393 children were injured during the same period.
However, the efforts of the authorities and organisations such as Oman Road Safety Association are already bearing fruit, with data from the NCSI showing a 41.9 per cent drop in accidents between June 2017 and June 2018.
A total of 3,845 accidents took place in 2017, down from 4,721 in 2016, while 692 deaths and 3,261 injuries occurred due to accidents on the road in 2016, which dropped to 640 deaths and 3,134 injuries last year.
