The Central Traffic Department (CTD) recorded 7,000 traffic violations on the first day of the awareness campaign they had launched on Saturday.

Speaking to Roya TV on Sunday morning, Deputy Director of the CTD, Bassem Kharabsheh, said that the campaign aimed to warn drivers against texting and driving, because of the many dangers it poses on their lives.

The week-long campaign aims to not only raise awareness, but to catch drivers in the act and punish them accordingly for their irresponsible behaviour. Once the campaign has ended, the recorded violations will stick and other guilty drivers after that period will also be fined for using their phones while driving.

Kharabsheh told Roya that some of the biggest causes of car accidents are the sudden change of lanes, using one’s phone while driving, running a red light and wrongly overtaking another car.

Kharabsheh also warned that children under the age of 13 must be seated in the back of a car, not in the passenger seat.