Accidents kill more than 400 people every year: Shuwaye

KUWAIT: 'Your life is a trust' is the slogan of the GCC unified traffic week being held from March 11-15, 2018. The event aims to spread traffic awareness for the safety of road users. The Interior Ministry's Assistant Undersecretary for Traffic Affairs Maj Gen Fahd Al-Shuwaye appreciated the important role of the private sector in supporting the traffic department in traffic awareness issues. "Social participation has become essential in facing the traffic issue and finding suitable solutions for it. One of the most important solutions is to spread traffic awareness inside and outside the company," he said during the launch ceremony yesterday at Shaheed Park.

The GCC Traffic Week will include various activities. "We will spread traffic awareness through exhibitions that will take place in The Avenues and The Gate malls. Awareness competitions will also be held for students in schools and some competitions will be posted on the official website of the interior ministry, in addition to other activities," added Shuwaye.

This year's slogan 'your life is a trust' targets all road users by emphasizing that by respecting traffic laws, we can protect lives. "The traffic department is working hard to deliver awareness messages to all the road users in cooperation with the security media and public relations department. Of course we can only spread the traffic culture and awareness among the community through the media, including the press, television, radio and others," he explained.

"Every year we lose more than 400 people in car accidents. The number of traffic accidents reached around 70,000 in 2017, and caused many injuries too. We aim to decrease the number of car accidents and traffic fines as well. The number of fines registered daily is very high compared to Kuwait's population and number of vehicles," stressed Shuwaye.

The Traffic Week is an awareness week and not a week for boosting traffic fines. "Our goal is not to register more fines, but to protect motorists. We are still ticketing violations including not using seatbelts, not wearing a helmet for motorcycle riders, using mobile phones while driving and others. But we have stopped seizing the vehicles for these violations," he concluded.

By Nawara Fattahova