UAE | Traffic and Transport
Undercover patrols to catch up with aggressive drivers
Undercover patrols will assist traffic police in a new campaign to crack down on aggressive driving, a senior police official said on Thursday.
- By Alia Al Theeb, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:56 October 30, 2008
Dubai: Undercover patrols will assist traffic police in a new campaign to crack down on aggressive driving, a senior police official said on Thursday.
Brigadier Mohammad Saif Al Zafein, Director of Dubai Police's Traffic Department, on Thursday announced that the campaign would take effect from November 2-16 and would focus on violations like speeding, tailgating, reckless driving or racing, and not leaving enough distance between vehicles.
"Not leaving enough distance between vehicles, speeding and reckless driving have led to many serious accidents and deaths lately. We have noticed that these violations and other dangerous violations such as jumping red signals, driving on the hard shoulder of the road and tailgating have increased lately, especially on highways," Brigadier Al Zafein said.
Police patrols would hand out spot fines and in-absentia penalties, he said, adding that undercover police officers would keep an eye on roads where there was no visible police presence.
"Aggressive driving is an uncivilised behaviour. However, sometimes there are factors on the roads that encourage this behavior, such as traffic congestion, but we can not solve a mistake by another mistake," Brigadier Al Zafein said.
Besides issuing spot fines to offenders, the traffic department will also distribute brochures about the campaign among motorists and organise awareness lectures at schools and universities to spread awareness among young motorists. The lectures will also be given at driving schools.
Captain Maher Bin Haider, the field in-charge of the campaign, said the department has formed a special team to focus on aggressive driving.
He said the traffic department's campaign to crack down on dangerous traffic offences on Shaikh Zayed Road had been effective.
"We issued around 604 fines during that campaign and confiscated around nine vehicles for offences such as dangerous overtaking, tailgating and speeding. Most of the offenders were motorists under the age of 40."
Do you notice a change in your driving behaviour when in the UAE? Have you ever been aggressive while driving? What happened? What triggers you?
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