800,000 traffic offences in Dubai in 120 days

Drivers committed a staggering 800,000 traffic offences in Dubai in the first four months of this year, an average 6,666 violations every day, the head of the emirate’s traffic police was reported on Thursday as saying.

Around 700,000 tickets were for those drivers in their absence while the rest were handed to the offenders, Major General Mohammed Al Zafin said.

Nearly 414,000 offences involved excess speed while there were 17,000 for using mobile phones while driving, about 27,000 for not fastening the seat belt and 36,000 for illegal parking, he said, quoted by the Sharjah-based Arabic language daily Alkhaleej.

He said nearly 18,000 offences involved illegal crossing on Dubai roads by pedestrians despite intensified campaigns by the emirate’s police to curb accidents resulting from such offences.

“It seems that there is a misunderstanding by some drivers that using the mobile phone while driving is not an offence….it is an offence because we registered nearly 17,000 such offences in the first four months of this year,” he said.

Zafin said police records showed 55 people were killed in road accidents in the first four months of 2011, adding that the emirate has set a target to curb deadly accidents to casualties will not exceed 135 through the year.

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