45,000 seat belt offences in Dubai in 6 months

Drivers in Dubai committed nearly a whopping 45,000 seat belt offences in the first half of 2011 and a police chief attributed the increase to intensifying road patrols in the emirate, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Dubai’s police also recorded nearly 57,000 offences involving seating children aged below 10 years in the vehicle’s front seat, said Mjaor General Mohammed Al Zafeen, Director-General of the Dubai traffic police.

“There were around 45,000 seat belt violations in the first six months of 2011 and the number is high considering that around 78,513 seat belt offences were recorded through 2010 and 41,427 in 2009,” he said, quoted by the semi-official Arabic language daily 'Al Ittihad'.

“The increase this year was a direct result of intensifying traffic police patrols on the street…this is a serious offence because studies have shown that fastening the seat belt while driving contributes to reducing the degree of injury and this could curb deaths in road accidents.”

Zafeen said many of those involved in seat belt offences are given a ticket in their absence on the grounds police prefer not to stop the vehicle and block traffic. But he added offending motorists can still go to traffic police departments to enquire about their offences.ends  
 

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