Dubai UAE forums
by shawarma on 24 Nov 2007, 17:28
...by shawarma on 24 Nov 2007, 18:09
rumpole wrote:Bicycles got banned in Sharjah this year. Or maybe end of last year.
Police to use breathalysers in drink driving crackdown
HAKAM KHERALLAH NEWS EDITOR
All police patrols in Dubai will now carry breathalysers to measure alcohol levels in motorists suspected of drink driving, traffic officials confirmed yesterday.
The breathalysers are new devices, and come in the wake of a dramatic increase in the number of accidents and fatalities caused by such drivers, said the officials.
Instructions to equip police patrols with the devices were issued by Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Commander in Chief of Dubai Police.
The Police Chief gave instructions to the Dubai Traffic Police Department last week, to withdraw the driving licences of motorists found to be under the influence of alcohol while driving.
According to Brigadier Eisa Aman Obeid, acting director of the Dubai Traffic Police Department, a total of 233 accidents occurred in the emirate from the beginning of January to the end of June, resulting in the death of 29 people. More than 100 people were injured in these accidents.
The deaths occurring as a result of drink driving came second after crashes caused by motorists’ failure to maintain proper distances between cars, according to a police report.
“Most accidents caused by drink drivers happen between 1am and 5am, especially on weekends. Most of those involved in these accidents are in the 23-33 age groups”, said Brigadier Obeid. Figures issued by traffic authorities show that most accidents caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol occurred in Bur Dubai.
Officials at the Dubai Traffic Police Department in Deira confirmed that the driving licences of motorists caught driving under the influence of alcohol “will be withdrawn and cancelled… even if the alcohol level was low”.
They underlined that the traffic law allows the withdrawal of the driver’s licence from any one involved in an accident while under the influence of alcohol.
The officials said an intensive campaign against motorists driving under the influence of alcohol would be launched in the near future.
by shawarma on 03 Dec 2007, 11:10
Hamdan orders clampdown on errant motorists
Staff Report
Dubai: Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, has ordered the enforcement of strict measures, including the imposition of stringent fines, to penalise reckless drivers and encourage safe driving.
According to Shaikh Hamdan, traffic violations are a key cause behind the rising number of road accidents and deaths on Dubai's busy roads.
Shaikh Hamdan also instructed the traffic police to double efforts to reduce traffic jams and ensure smoother traffic flow during peak hours around Dubai.
"During the past few years, the economic boom in the UAE has resulted in higher personal incomes, subsequently increasing the number of cars on the roads.
"Yet, this cannot be a valid excuse for the mounting number of fatal road accidents. Intensive police patrols and stricter penalties will help combat this phenomenon," Shaikh Hamdan said.
Shaikh Hamdan also stressed that despite the relentless efforts of the traffic police to ensure road safety, the number of accidents, as a result of carelessness and undisciplined driving, had increased to worrying levels.
Traffic records indicate a sharp increase in traffic violations in Dubai, almost doubling from 520,000 in 2003 to 1.17 million in 2005.
The first eight months of 2006 reported 908,000 violations, equivalent to 3,784 violations per day or 157 violations every hour.
The most common traffic violations include lane violations, blocking traffic, jumping red signals, dangerous overtaking and not wearing seatbelts.
by shawarma on 03 Dec 2007, 11:13
Three months for a life
Friends and family of a British schoolteacher killed in a car crash have voiced outrage after the reckless driver who caused her death was sentenced to just three months in prison. The news comes as Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, who heads up Dubai’s Executive Council, yesterday called for harsher penalties to reduce deaths on Dubai’s roads. Barbara King, aged 63, who worked at Itihad Primary School in Jumeirah, died after a 24-year-old driver crashed into her as she drove back from a trip to Oman. Mrs King was overtaking a lorry on the two-lane highway when the young UAE national tried to squeeze between the two vehicles.
At a court hearing this week, the guilty driver was also fined dhs5,000. “I’m appalled that a man who robbed my mother of her life gets just three months in jail which is only one month longer than the punishment for a man who exposed himself in public last week,” said Glenn, Barbara’s son. Friends and family described Mrs King as a loving and caring person who was full of life. Her friend Joanne W said the reckless driver approached Barbara’s friends and family outside the court on Tuesday and “apologised for the accident, which I thought took some guts. He wanted her family to know how sorry he was,” she told 7DAYS.
The head of Dubai’s traffic police, Brigadier General Mohammad Al Zafeen said although he couldn’t comment on the judge’s verdict in this particular case, “harsher sentences are needed to protect the 90 per cent of road users from the reckless behaviour of the remaining ten per cent who cause crashes and kill or maim others.” He said patrol police are getting tougher and now impound cars for violations such as using the hard shoulder and running red lights.
Yesterday, Sheikh Hamdan, chairman of Dubai’s Executive Council, said the country’s economic boom which led to huge numbers of cars on the roads can’t be “a valid excuse for the mounting number of fatal road accidents. Intensive police patrol and stricter penalties will help combat this phenomenon,” he said. Records show a huge increase in traffic violations in Dubai, almost doubling from 520,000 in 2003 to 1.17 million in 2005. The first eight months of 2006 have seen 908,000 violations - that’s 3,784 violations every day or 157 every hour.
By Zainab Fattah
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