Black points gained through traffic violations have adverse consequences on the driver’s licence. A driver accumulates three points each for jumping the red light three times, and driving under the influence of alcohol. Both these violations have provisions for jail and fine along with accumulation of black points.
A new driver who is given a temporary licence for a year will have to undergo the complete procedure of taking a new licence, which starts from applying afresh, attending an eye test, signal, drum and road tests to qualify to drive on Oman roads, if he is found to have secured 12 such negative points.
“This point system is applicable to new drivers who are given temporary driving licence for the first one year and when he/she is found to have been given 12 or more such points, he/she will be required to take the tests all over again,” a top official from the Traffic Department at Royal Oman Police (ROP) Al Seeb told the Observer.
Similarly, reckless overtaking, dangerous driving, and using mobile phone while driving and the like will attract negative points varying from 2 to 3 and will have similar impact on issuing permanent driving licence of 2 years.
“The driving licence issued to an aspirant for the first time is a temporary one valid for one year, and the next licence issued will be permanent for two years. Having found to have more such black points on one’s licence will impact the procedure of issuing permanent licence which is valid for 2 years,” he added.
The new revision of traffic rules is in the wake of the recent increase in the number of accidents involving new drivers.
According to the statistics released by the Capital Market Authority (CMA), the total number of road accidents increased by 15.5 per cent to touch 76,200 compared to the previous year. These include 60,900 minor accidents and 15,300 major accidents during the year.
However, a recent report released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), traffic safety in the last five years has improved considerably, highlighting a reduction in road accidents.
Statistics reveal the number of accidents in the Sultanate of Oman fell by 60 per cent in five years from 3,845 in 2017 to 1,539 in 2021. The NCSI report further shows that 640 people were killed in road accidents in 2017, 637 in 2018, 511 in 2019 and 371 in 2020.
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