The Traffic Department will begin enforcing the amended traffic law from January 1 next year.

The new law decreases the fine for violations that are on the conciliation list by 50 percent if paid by motorists within 30 days. After that, the fines should be paid in full.

Brigadier Mohamed Saad Al Kharji, Director-General of the Traffic Department, said in a previous statement that the 50 percent reduction in fines would only be applicable to some violations.

He said the rule does not apply to overtaking from the right side and parking on slots reserved for persons with special needs, in addition to overweight trucks.

The law has raised the fine for overtaking from the right side and parking on spaces reserved for people with special needs from QR500 to QR1,000.

Those found repeating the offence will be liable to be jailed and fined. Points are also to be deducted from the motorist’s points scale for exceeding speed limits. No fines are, though, stipulated for breaching speed limits. The new law amending the previous one issued in 2007 was issued last August. It is to be made effective 90 days after being published in the official gazette.

The law also bans vehicles meant for sale from being displayed in public areas without permission from the Traffic Department.

Earlier, the Traffic Department and the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning dealt with such violations but now it is the Traffic Department that deals with them.

The legislation also decreases the period from six months to three for a motorist whose vehicle was seized for violations to pay the fine and claim the vehicle, otherwise it will be auctioned. The fine is to be deducted from the sale proceeds after the auction and the remaining amount is to be handed to the vehicle owner. The number of traffic violations during the first six months of the year reached 845,169.

Violations varied from jumping the red light and radar violations to obstruction of traffic movement and overtaking.

Radar violations registered the highest, reaching 363,523, followed by jumping the red light at 15,562.