Stringent penalties for ‘car drifting’ in Saudi Arabia

More stringent penalties now await recalcitrant Saudi citizens who engage in “car drifting,” a popular pastime of Saudi youth which is now considered a major health hazard. In a session yesterday at the Al Salam Palace in Jeddah, the Council of Ministers, chaired by Vice Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Mohammed bin Naif, approved modifications giving more teeth to traffic rules against the practice. Authorities have deemed that the penalties were really too low to discourage “drifting,” blamed for many of the accidents happening across the Kingdom. In one such accident documented on video in Riyadh, a Saudi youth was shown drifting recklessly, causing his vehicle to overturn as he lost control over it, damaging two cars parked along the road. A number of deaths caused by “drifters” have also been reported in the past years.

Photo: Arab News.com