Sunday 17 / November / 2024
Muscat: Red-light jumpers should be heavily punished and it’s the only one way to make Oman roads safe, said road safety experts and motorists while welcoming Royal Oman Police (ROP) move to impose severe punishment on the violators.
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On Wednesday, the ROP uploaded a statement on its official twitter handle saying that drivers who fail to stop at a red light risk a jail sentence of up to a year and a fine of up to OMR500, or one of these punishments.
Read here: OMR500, one year jail term for drivers jumping red light
“Jumping a red light is among the most severe of traffic violations, where the offending driver risks a jail sentence of up to a year and a fine of up to OMR500, or one of these punishments,” Major Zaid bin Mohammed Al Hosni, Head of the Violations Administration at the General Directorate of Traffic at the ROP, said in the statement.
“It is well known that accidents occurring at traffic light crossings are often very severe and result either in death or in severe injuries. Particularly since the one who is running a red light is driving at a high speed while trying to pass the lights just before they turn red. Such a wrong assessment leads to an accident,” he added.
Al Hosni said that these punishments also include drivers speeding, driving recklessly or under the influence of alcohol or any type of drugs, crossing in an unsafe place or where it is forbidden to cross, or posing a threat to the lives or possessions of others.
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“The punishment will be one to five years in prison when this leads to death or injury of another person, or when the victim is prevented from working for more than 10 days. That includes driving the vehicle without the proper permit, using the vehicle for other purposes than it was allowed to, driving a vehicle which permit or number plate was withdrawn, or driving with an expired driving license,” Al Hosni said.
Al Hosni also said that the fine for driving on the wrong lane at the traffic light is OMR35.
“Changing lanes without abiding by safe traffic behaviour, whether it is on interchanges or on roads, is obstructing other road users and leads to confusion among traffic. Suddenly changing lanes causes traffic accidents, God forbid,” Al Hosni added.
Mark Pudwell, training manager at Competence HR, said that monetary punitive action for driving offences can be an effective deterrent and in the case of causing injury or death, imprisonment may be added to the punishment.
“Red-light offences are often discussed and mentioned on social media and with good reason however the single biggest road safety issue in Oman is the use of mobile phones whilst driving. It has become and remains one of the biggest single causes of road traffic incidents and can no longer be ignored. Punitive action for this socially unacceptable practice needs to be aligned to the laws for red-light offences,” Pudwell added.
Quoting a study, ROP official Al Hosni, said that 72 percent of drivers admitted that they text and drive and 80 percent had admitted that they lose focus while typing.
Neelesh Sogani, another road safety expert in Muscat, said that it is a good move towards curtailing serious fatal incidents
“Jumping red light is a serious lifesaving rules violation and it not only put the driver and his occupant life in danger but also risking other road users’ life. I also insists that ROP shall start negative scoring for such violations and multiple violator's licenses shall be seized,” the road safety expert said.
“It is always good to use sticks of penalties and other tough decisions if individuals are not caring for own life and putting others into danger. All life-saving rule violator's shall be treated in harsh way,” the road safety expert added.
Mohammed Faisal, a taxi driver in Ruwi, also voiced the same opinion of experts.
“Reckless driving of a few on the road pose threat to everyone. Rules are set to follow. It not only helps them but others too. Violators should be punished hard,” the taxi driver added.
However, many expressed their surprise on social networking sites towards the new move by the ROP.
While a few welcomed the move, majority expressed their surprise even saying that such punishments will scare the drivers and lead to more chaos on the roads.
After the story was uploaded in Times of Oman website, in two hours, it received 4,000 hits and the same shared on Times of Oman’s official Facebook page reached to 113,524 people and it was shared 1,111 readers.
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