KUWAIT: Deaths from traffic accidents have plummeted by 55 percent since the implementation of the new traffic law on April 22, a senior interior ministry official said on Wednesday. Speeding and breaking the red traffic light offenses dived by a massive 83 percent and the violations of not using seat belts and using mobile while driving also dropped 75 percent, head of the public relations and interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Nasser Buslaib told reporters. Buslaib however provided no figures for the violations as he was explaining the ministry’s strategic plan to reporters at the government communication center.
Earlier this year, Kuwait issued a new traffic law that significantly increased penalties and fines on almost all offenses to curb an ever increasing violations and accidents that cost the country more than 300 casualties every year. Buslaib said that the new law effectively contributed to strengthen traffic safety
and reduce the number of accidents which averaged around 300 accidents daily during 2024 but declined sharply after April. Under the new law, penalties and fines have been toughened for almost all offenses, with fines now range between KD 15 for parking in prohibited areas and could reach as high as KD 5,000.
Under the new law, the fine for using a mobile while driving was increased from KD 5 to KD 75, while the fine for not using a seat belt has been tripled from KD 10 to KD 30. Reckless driving fines were tripled to KD 150, while the fine for breaking the red light and racing on roads has been raised three-fold to KD 150 each. Fines for vehicles with harmful emissions, loud noises, or drop harmful liquids were increased from KD 10 to KD 75, while the fine for parking in places allocated for the handicapped was increased 15 fold to KD. 150.
Buslaib also said that the ministry is currently working to upgrade the law on combating drugs to fight smuggling, trading and possessing of all types of drugs. He said the new law will provide wider powers to security agencies to combat organized networks for smuggling and marketing drugs, and at the same time boost preventive and treatment measures for addicts. Buslaib said that 39 people died of drugs in 2024 while in the first half of this year 11 died, adding that during the first half of 2025 as many as 1,451 cases of drugs were registered in which 1,864 people were involved.
