GCC mulls banning veiled women driving

Gulf Arab states are considering banning women who wear a veil on their face from driving as part of a plan to unify traffic offences.

Oman made the proposal at talks by traffic police chiefs in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), held in the Western Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah on Monday, newspapers in the Gulf Kingdom reported on Wednesday.

The proposal includes “unification and classification” of all traffic offences in the six members, the papers said, adding that the new proposals were prompted by what they described as the large gap in such laws in the GCC.

“Oman presented a draft unified traffic offence law to be enforced in the GCC…it involves many new offences including banning women wearing burqu (veils) on their faces from driving cars,” Alwatan Arabic language daily said.

Another proposal includes a unified penalty against drivers using electronic systems that detect police speed cameras on roads.

The reports said participants from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman decided to postpone approval of the new unified traffic law to present the draft to their interior ministers before it is enforced.

According to the Saudi Alyoum daily, traffic offences widely vary in the GCC, with 147 types of such offences enforced in the UAE, many of which are not classified. In Saudi Arabia, 74 types of offences are specified in the traffic law while there are 128 offences in Qatar, 280 in Oman and 298 in Kuwait. Bahrain enforces only 40 types of offences.

[Image via Shutterstock]

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.