Over 61,000 serious traffic offences in 2010

Serious traffic offences in the UAE increased to more than 61,000 in 2010 and nearly 965 of them involved illegal car races on main roads, a senior traffic official was reported on Saturday as saying.

Thousands of offences also involved reckless driving and endangering the pedestrians and other members of the public on roads, said Brigadier Gaith Al Zaabi, head of the traffic coordination division at the interior ministry.

From 55,996 in 2009, the number of serious traffic offences rose to 61,308 in 2010, a daily average of nearly 168 offences.

Quoted by the semi official daily Alittihad, Zaabi said offences involving illegal races increased to 965 from 827 while driving in a way that endangered the public declined to 1,825 from 1,946 offences in the same period.

Reckless driving dropped to 5,164 from 5,953 but offences involving exceeding the speed limit by at least 60 km sharply increased to 53,354 from 47,270.

“We appeal for all drivers to respect traffic rules to ensure public safety and avoid heavy fines and impoundment of their cars,” Zaabi said.

He noted serious traffic fines, mainly reckless driving, involve a fine of Dh2,000 and 12 black points. The vehicle will also be impounded for one month.

According to Alittihad, 452 motorists had their driving licences taken off them for three months in the first nine months of 2010 because of reckless driving.

A surge in road offences has prompted the UAE to step up a drive to curb accidents by installing more speed cameras, introducing black points and expanding police patrols inside and outside main cities.