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28 March 2024

Smudged plates to dodge speed traps

Published
By Staff

Drivers coming from Saudi Arabia to visit the UAE are tarnishing their car plate numbers to dodge police speed cameras but most of them have been seized, a Saudi newspaper reported on Thursday, quoting a UAE official.

Traffic police patrols roaming Abu Dhabi’s motorways have seized five cars owned by Saudis over the past few weeks after they noticed that their plates were intentionally painted in a bid to hide the registration number.

“We will not tolerate such a behavior….penalties for this offence range between Dh10,000 and Dh20,000 while drivers will be referred to judicial authorities,” Alriyadh daily quoted an unnamed UAE official as saying.

The official said concealing the vehicle’s plate numbers constitutes a serious offence in any country on the grounds the plate is considered the “car identity.”

“In some cases, we could confiscate the offending vehicle…we urge all drivers coming from Saudi Arabia to respect the rules which are intended to protect road users and all other citizens…we warn them that our cameras are advanced enough to hunt all those vehicles which hide their number.”

Public comments sent to the newspaper blasted offending Saudi drivers, with one saying :”I think the Emiratis are right in taking these measures against our drivers, who like to violate anything that serves their interests.”

“It seems our drivers did not have enough violations in Saudi Arabia, so they went to the UAE to have more,” said another comment.