The president of Turkmenistan has begun enforcing a new ban prohibiting women from driving cars, weeks after instituting a rule that barred black cars from driving in the nation’s capital because he prefers white cars.

President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov announced in December that women would no longer be allowed to operate motor vehicles in the Central Asian country, but the police there have only recently begun enforcing the ban, the Chronicles of Turkmenistan was quoted in the AKIpress. As of January, women caught behind the wheel are apparently being pulled over and having their cars impounded.

The ban was apparently inspired by the country’s minister of the interior, who told the president that the majority of the collisions on Turkmen roads were caused by women; President Berdymuhamedov drummed up the ban in order to “resolve this issue.”

Earlier in January, Berdymuhamedov also ruled black cars would no longer be allowed in the capital city of Ashgabat, apparently since he prefers white cars, which he considers lucky. Owners of black cars began seeing their vehicles impounded immediately, and held until they agreed to have the car repainted white or silver. As a result, the price Turkmen body shops have been charging for repaints has gone up 50 per cent, according to reports, to several times that of some locals’ salaries.

In 2015, Berdymuhamedov began his black car crackdown by banning black cars from being imported into Turkmenistan.