Times Kuwait reported that the General Traffic Department intensified its operational readiness through a meeting that brought together Brigadier General Ahmed Fahd Al-Azmi and field commanders from various units. The session focused on assessing existing operational plans, levels of preparedness and mechanisms for emergency response across the country. Al-Azmi, who chaired the gathering, called for seamless coordination between teams and rapid translation of instructions into practical measures on the ground.
The directives originated from Major General Abdul Wahab Al-Wahib, undersecretary at the Ministry of Interior. Al-Azmi stressed high readiness for public safety and traffic flow during the session. He urged all participants to convert the received directives into immediate field actions, according to the Times Kuwait account.
Ministry of Interior data for 2024 recorded 65,991 traffic accidents that led to 284 deaths, figures that have driven sustained enforcement activities by the General Traffic Department. A 2022 research paper published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that road traffic injuries cause about 450 fatalities each year in Kuwait, with non-Kuwaitis bearing four times the burden compared to Kuwaiti nationals. The study noted a gradual decline in the annual toll over the preceding years.
Traffic accidents, deaths and violations fell sharply in the first half of 2025 after the implementation of a new traffic law with stricter penalties, according to Colonel Fahad Al-Issa, head of the traffic awareness department. Al-Issa reported a 45 percent reduction in accidents, a 34 percent drop in fatalities and a 16 percent decrease in offenses during that period. In a more recent eight-day stretch from May 31 to June 6, 2026, officials documented 1,308 accidents alongside 20,961 violations, the Traffic and Operations Affairs Sector indicated.
The World Health Organization’s global assessment places annual road traffic deaths at 1.19 million worldwide and identifies such crashes as the primary killer of individuals between five and 29 years old. The World Health Organization serves as secretariat for the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030, which aims to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50 percent by 2030. Kuwait has incorporated elements of these international benchmarks into its local enforcement strategies.
Recent intensification of inspection drives by the General Traffic Department has included operations that resulted in thousands of citations and the impounding of hundreds of vehicles in single weeks, prior reports from Times Kuwait showed. These campaigns have combined mobile radar deployments with broader security checks to address ongoing risks on the roads.
