RIYADH, Saudi Arabia // A Saudi online newspaper says Oman is proposing that women be banned from wearing face veils when driving.
Al-Watan said today Oman proposed the move at a meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council police traffic department heads. It singled out the niqab, a mask that covers a woman's face, leaving only a slit for her eyes.
The Oman delegate said that wearing a niqab while driving should be a traffic violation, indicating that the garment restricts vision and represents a hazard.
The traffic police chiefs met in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia to discuss unification of traffic laws. They are referring proposals back to their governments.
In Saudi Arabia itself, such a regulation would have no immediate effect. Though almost all Saudi women wear a niqab - women are forbidden to drive there.