Crippled driver piles up over Dh80,000 in offences

An Emirati man has piled up more than Dh80,000 in road fines in Dubai because of persistent offences involving mostly excess speed which resulted in his paralysis, a newspaper said on Tuesday.

The man, a holder of a university masters degree, met head of the Dubai traffic police General Mohammed al Zafin to apologize for the offences and plead for reducing the period of confiscation for his car to help him move around.

“I agreed to cut that period to half from 510 to 255 days…I sympathize with this man because he is now crippled but that does not mean he has not committed mistakes by driving in a reckless way that led him to spend the rest of his life on the wheel chair,” Zafin said, quoted by the Dubai-based Albayan newspaper.

He said police records showed the man had accumulated Dh75,910 in fines for the traffic police and Dh6,620 for the Roads and Communications Authority as well as other offences in the remaining emirates.

His file showed there were 10 offences involving exceeding the speed limit by at least 60 km on some roads and five offences for noising engine.

“I have spent nearly Dh200,000 on additions to my car to increase its speed although its price is around Dh188,000,” said the unnamed driver, who is holder of a university masters degree, according to Albayan.

“I started driving when I was 15 years old although I did not have a driving licence…I had always participated in car races with my friends, half of whom had died because of excess speed and reckless driving…I myself lost half of my life when I was crippled in a road crash because I did not have the seat belt fastened when I had the accident.”

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