License for women to drive trucks, motorcycles

As the weeks pass and the time approaches for Saudi and other women living in Saudi Arabia to begin driving legally, word has come out that women will be able to drive trucks and motorcycles too.  Non-Saudi women with international drivers licenses will be able to take to the wheel for up to a year from the date the new law goes into effect in June, 2018.

A link to a December 17, 2017 story from the Saudi Gazette is here and the text is pasted in below. Note: rural women in Saudi Arabia have driven trucks and cars for years, where there families and local communities long supported it.


JEDDAH — Women will be allowed to drive trucks as long as they comply with traffic regulations, the General Directorate of Traffic announced on Friday.

Women will also get licenses to ride motorcycles as per a Royal decree announced in September, which comes into effect in June 2018.

The General Directorate of Traffic stated that women with international driving licenses will be allowed to drive in the Kingdom without the need to go to local driving schools.

Women with licenses from Gulf countries can convert these to Saudi licenses.

Women visiting the Kingdom with international driving licenses will also be able to drive for one year before needing to apply for a Saudi license.

If an international driving license expires in less than a year from the date a Saudi woman arrives in the Kingdom, she will need a Saudi driving license before the expiry of her international license.

The General Directorate of Traffic said it complies with strict anti-harassment laws that will not tolerate any harassment of female drivers.

Women will be employed at different traffic checkpoints. The General Directorate of Traffic will also recruit women field inspectors.

The directorate has also cooperated with the Ministry of Labor and Social Development to make arrangements for women who violate traffic laws to be detained at women care centers.

There will be no discrimination between men and women when it comes to implementing traffic laws and regulations.

Licenses to drive vehicles in private and secured areas are granted at the age of 18 and licenses to drive in public areas and to operate public service vehicles are granted at the age of 20.

In a historic decision, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on Sept. 26, 2017, issued orders to grant driving licenses to women in the Kingdom.

The Royal order will come into force on June 24, 2018.

The King directed Minister of Interior Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Saud Bin Naif to constitute a high-level ministerial committee to carry out studies about the necessary arrangements to implement the Royal decree.

The committee will comprise representatives of the ministries of interior, finance and labor and social development.

Niqabs no replacement for helmets in Saudi: female motorbike accidents on the rise

Great story by Marwa Haddad about Saudi women riding motorcycles; headscarves are getting caught int he wheels and cause serious accidents. The story is pasted in below and a link to it is here.

Niqabs no replacement for helmets in Saudi: female motorbike accidents on the rise

Published February 7th, 2013 - 05:00 GMT via SyndiGate.info

Increasing numbers of women in Saudi Arabia are taking up motorcycle riding

Motorcycle riding is a popular pastime in Saudi Arabia, but not just among young men and boys. Many women have taken up the recreational activity, the result being an increased presence of injured women in hospital emergency rooms.

In Alkhobar, King Fahd University Hospital announced it has delivered emergency treatment to more than 350 women and children who suffered various kinds of injuries, including fractures and suffocation, that resulted from motorcycle sand-drifting during semester-break beach and desert trips. The main reason for women riders’ injuries, said Dr. Muhammad Al-Jamaan of Jeddah’s King Fahd Hospital, is abayas being caught by the wheel.

Abdulrahman Al-Sahafi, Director of Information and Public Relations at Health Affairs in Jeddah, said there are no reliable numbers for cases of women injured riding motorcycles in Jeddah, adding that the low number of such cases in Jeddah is due to the fact the city lacks the open spaces required for such activity, unlike in Khobar and Riyadh. “Driving motorcycles in Jeddah takes place at the Corniche mostly,” he said.

Mustafa Qurban, Director of Information and Public Relations at the Jeddah Mayor’s Office, said motorcycles are not allowed at the Corniche.

“Police mostly pursue us. The number of women renting motorcycles is small,” said an owner of motorcycles.

A number of residents said many girls are seen driving motorcycles at the beach “and speeding recklessly,” said Hanan Muhammad. Some of them called for wide spaces that allow girls to practice the activity safely. “Isn’t it enough that we cannot practice the sport of walking or commute easily,” said Um Abdullah.

By Marwa Haddad