Friday, Dec 02, 2016

Muscat: The dangerous penchant of some road users to perform drifting stunts on roads has seen a sharp decline in Oman thanks to hefty penalties introduced in amendments to the traffic law, an official at the Royal Oman Police (ROP) told Gulf News on Monday.

Amendments to Oman’s traffic law came into force in September and lay down a 20-fold increase in fines for certain traffic violations. Drivers who perform drifting stunts on roads can face jail terms of up to three months and be fined up to 500 rials (Dh4,752), as per Article 42 of the traffic law.

“Intense police patrols nationwide have also significantly curbed the drifting menace,” said the official. He added that very few such cases have been reported in 2016 compared to 2015, when 60 cases were reported.

Dozens of drivers were arrested in 2015 and more than 50 vehicles confiscated from drivers caught putting other road users to risk by performing such stunts.

Six people were killed in drifting-related accidents in 2015. A 27-year-old who gave up on his penchant for such stunts last year, told Gulf News that strict penalties have forced many to quit this “death hobby”. “Many of my friends quit this sport as they fear to be caught and lose everything including their jobs,” he said.

The repentant stunt driver had shot to fame for his ‘Al Hajwalah’ stunt, which involves swerving the vehicle at a speed of up to 180 km/h. Many arenas where such dangerous stunts are performed lack the minimum safety requirements. Incidents of drifting stunts on roads have mainly been reported from the provinces of Ibri, Sohar, Rustaq, Barka, Nizwa and Shinas.

The repentant driver added that most of those performing such stunts are either young men who still haven’t found jobs or even married men with families to support.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Regional Municipality and Water Resources (MRMWR) has started building dedicated arenas at six locations across the country offering the highest safety standards for youths to perform drifting stunts. The arenas are being built in Shinas, Ibri, Thamrait, Adam and Musannah provinces.

Khalid Hamdan, a psychiatrist, said that too much spare time and a lack of educational involvement are the main factors behind the drifting craze.

Oman has had to deal with a high number of road accidents and fatalities, with 6,276 crashes recorded in 2015 that resulted in more than 675 deaths.

So far this year, 515 people have been killed in road accidents, which constitute a 1.2 per cent increase in fatalities year on year.

In all, 2,120 people have been injured in road accidents this year, compared to 2,879 last year.

Speeding and wrong overtaking have been cited as the main causes leading to road accidents in Oman.

By Fahad Al Mukrashi Correspondent

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