** New Rule – If you drive car of someone else then you will be responsible of all traffic fines.

If you ever lend your car to a friend, a colleague or a family member in Kuwait, check how you gave them permission. If you did it through Sahel (the government’s official app), any ticket they get while driving is now their responsibility, not yours.

This matters for a lot of expats. Many households share one car between a sponsor, a spouse or a roommate, especially when only one person on a visa has a licence. The traffic department just made clear how fines are handled when you officially hand over the keys through the app.

The General Traffic Department also used the same interview to repeat some basic parking and sidewalk rules that catch out a lot of drivers, residents included. Here’s everything they said, broken down simply.

So who is responsible when you authorise a driver on Sahel?

Lieutenant Colonel Abdullah Bu Hassan, Assistant Director of the Traffic Awareness Department at the General Traffic Department, explained this on Kuwait Radio’s general programme. Vehicle owners can use Sahel to give someone else permission to drive their car, and they can set exactly how long that permission lasts.

Once that authorisation is active, any traffic violation the other person commits is registered against them, not the car’s owner. They carry the legal responsibility and any consequences that come with it.

For expats, this is useful to know both ways. If you’re the owner handing over your car, you’re protected from fines racked up by someone else’s bad driving. If you’re the one being authorised, understand that you are now fully on the hook for anything that happens while you’re behind the wheel, including speeding, parking tickets or anything bigger.

Bu Hassan also stressed that internal roads, meaning the smaller streets inside residential areas, are still public roads under the law. Article 1 of the Traffic Law applies the rules to vehicles, pedestrians and even animals on any public road, not just main highways. So parking wrongly on a quiet residential street carries the same legal weight as doing it on a main road.

What are the actual parking rules?

The Traffic Awareness Department says it has increased monitoring of illegal parking, cars driving up onto sidewalks, and violations at intersections.

Bu Hassan clarified the rule plainly: parking is only permitted next to sidewalks painted black and white. If the kerb is grey or has no paint at all, parking there is not allowed.

Driving or parking a vehicle on top of a sidewalk is also a violation and can lead to legal action. This is a common habit in older neighbourhoods where parking is tight, so it’s worth checking your usual spot.

As we’ve reported before, wheel clamps are already a real risk for anyone parked illegally, and the traffic department has defended using them to keep roads clear. If a vehicle is blocking traffic flow or sitting partly on the road, authorities can immobilise it on the spot. Officials say the goal is to keep public roads open and safe for everyone, not to punish drivers unfairly.

How do people report violations?

The department takes reports around the clock through the Ministry of Interior’s operations centre and through the General Traffic Department’s WhatsApp service. These channels let officers act quickly on blocked roads or other breaches.

Parking in the wrong spot in Kuwait has already led to clamping for plenty of drivers this year, and these comments confirm the department isn’t backing off that approach.

Why does traffic keep getting worse on some roads?

Bu Hassan pointed to two causes: ongoing roadworks and unsafe driving habits, particularly overtaking at intersections. He said the point of traffic campaigns and fines isn’t just to collect money. It’s meant to push drivers toward safer habits and cut down on repeat offences.

What this means if you live in Kuwait

For expats specifically, three things stand out. First, if you share a car and use Sahel to authorise another driver, know that fines now follow the person driving, which can actually protect car owners from unfair charges. Second, don’t assume a quiet residential street is exempt from parking or traffic rules, because it isn’t. Third, check the kerb colour before you park, even if everyone else nearby is doing the same thing.

None of this changes anything for expats who don’t drive or don’t use Sahel’s authorisation feature. But for households with one registered car and multiple potential drivers, this is a rule worth understanding before someone else gets behind your wheel.

You can find more local traffic and residency updates as the department continues tightening enforcement this year, alongside other changes like the shift to digital vehicle insurance ending paper policies from 25 October, and the recent 1.1 million traffic violations logged in five months.

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