President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has reversed his promise made for the racing and drifting community and enforced strict measures to be taken against speeding vehicles, in the wake of a fatal accident that took a life in Hulhumalé on Friday.

Taking to social media platform ‘X’, the president announced that he has instructed relevant authorities to take steps to control vehicles speeding illegally, control the use of vehicles that have been modified or are inherently loud when driven, and to protect residential areas.

Further, he stated that the implementation of these measures and their results will be closely monitored by the government.

The instructions given to relevant institutions to make Maldivian roads safer include amending laws and regulations to implement strict measures against those who speed, in order to make roads safe for everyone to use, immediately revoking the permission granted by the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) on 19 October 2023, for the racing and drifting community to use a specific area in Hulhumalé, immediately stop vehicles exceeding the speed limit and take the driver’s license and vehicle into police custody, as well as amending laws and regulations to prohibit the use of land vehicles above a certain CC (horsepower) on public roads.

Further, the president has instructed to amend the laws and regulations to ban the import of equipment used to modify vehicle silencers to make them louder, in order to prevent noisy driving on roads and to expedite the implementation of the plan proposed by the Maldives Police Service (MPS) to HDC, for organizing and regulating the streets of Hulhumalé. This includes installing speed breakers in 150 areas of Hulhumalé and setting up speed detecting cameras as suggested by the police.

The president also instructed to introduce a graduated licensing system and begin deducting points from the licenses of those who drive vehicles in violation of regulations, as well as to enhance and strengthen the efforts of the MPS in enforcing road laws and regulations more than the current level.

This comes in the wake of the death of Hassan Samaah, 23. Samaah was the victim of a speeding racing car that hit him near Hulhumalé Central Park while he was riding a motorcycle.