Speeding Kuwaiti drivers could see cars crushed

Kuwait is considering a proposal to crush cars of drivers caught speeding before selling the vehicles as scrap metal, according to reports in the Gulf state In a bid to combat speeding, drivers caught travelling over 180 km/hr will have their vehicles confiscated, crushed and sold as scrap, Kuwaiti press reported. However, Colonel Adel Al-Hashash, a spokesperson at the Ministry of Interior told the Kuwait Times newspaper that the proposal was currently only at the review stage. “It’s not been drafted yet, or even passed to the parliament to be discussed. This proposal could become the law some day or not may not even be applied. This proposal is one of the many proposals which are still being studied, like increasing the traffic fines and so on,” he was quoted as saying on Sunday. Many Gulf states are currently reviewing measure to curb speeding and reduce the number of road death each year. Dubai's transport authority is planning to review speed limits on all roads over the next two years in a bid to improve safety, according to Maitha bin Udai, CEO of the Licensing Agency, part of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). Among the key objectives of Dubai's strategy is to significantly curb traffic-related deaths by 2015. The RTA said fatalities fell from 21.7 cases per 100,000 people in 2007 to 6.7 cases per 100,000 last year. "Despite the fact the traffic fatality rate in Dubai is better than countries such as Malaysia, South Africa and the US, the RTA is still aspiring to place Dubai amongst the cities with the least traffic fatalities in the world," said bin Udai. International studies indicate that increasing the driving speed by up to 5 percent over and above the specified speed limits result in the rate of traffic accidents causing injuries rising by 10 percent and fatalities by 20 percent.