UAE | Traffic and Transport

Your vehicle is gone if you are 50km/h over the speed limit

Vehicles travelling 50 km/hr above the speed limit will be confiscated immediately, a senior police official has warned.

  • By Alia Al Theeb, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 00:00 May 29, 2007
  • Gulf News

  • If a motorist violates the limit, but does not exceed it by 50 km/hr, he/she will be fined on the spot.
  • Image Credit: Gulf News

Dubai: Vehicles travelling 50 km/hr above the speed limit will be confiscated immediately, a senior police official warned yesterday.

Brigadier Mohammad Saif Al Zafein, Director of Dubai Police's Traffic Department, told Gulf News that two vehicles have been fitted with cameras and computer screens to catch speeding motorists. These vehicles will be deployed on June 1. More vehicles will patrol the roads in future.

Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police, earlier ordered that unmarked police cars be equipped with radar cameras to clamp down on speeding.

If a motorist violates the limit, but does not exceed it by 50 km/hr, he/she will be fined on the spot and receive black points on the driving licence, Brigadier Al Zafein said.

Pedestrians to be fined

He said speeding and reckless driving on highways contribute to 40-50 per cent of road deaths. Brigadier Al Zafein said traffic patrols will also prevent pedestrians from crossing streets at undesignated points and offenders will be fined.

He, however, did not specify the amount.

The number of radars on the roads will also be increased from 172 to 865 to curb traffic law offenders. This will be achieved by the year-end.

"Not a single death was reported on Jumeirah Road this year after Dubai Police's decision to install 13 radars and 36 cameras to catch red light violators," he said.

Brigadier Al Zafein said statistics for the first quarter of this year reported a decline in road deaths by 21 per cent compared to the same period last year. Some 85 people were killed in road accidents in the four months of this year compared to 107 in 2006.

"The decline is a result of the strict traffic control procedures," he said.

How cameras in unmarked cars work

Unmarked police cars with radar cameras will clamp down on motorists who violate speed limits. Speeding motorists will be stopped right away and fined on the spot.

The radar cameras in the vehicles will photograph the violators and specify their speed and time.

After that, an instant message will be sent to the nearest police patrol giving it the vehicle's description, licence number and make of car for it to be stopped and issued a fine on the spot.

Have your say
Do you think increasing radars will deter motorists from speeding? Should laws be made stricter? Will an increase in fines curb offenders? Write to us at letter2editor@gulfnews.com or fill in the form below to send your comments.


Your comments


As long as people are not willing to comply with rules, no amount of surveillance will help.
Andrew
Nebraska,USA

I think it's a good idea to implement such measures on the roads, but on the other hand what the people do with the sport cars? They want to speed and enjoy the pleasure of their cars.
Bruce
Dubai,UAE

The accidents happen in Dubai not because here is no such law or systems to monitor the violation. First of all the attitude of the persons driving the car should change. Most of the drivers who drive very fast think that they own the road not the vehicle. The best remedial measures is to cancel the driving license on the spot who violates the traffic rules and stop issuing driving license on exchange with other countries. Let everybody go to the driving classes and let them pass in our strict environment.
Balagopal
Dubai,UAE

Police should rather stop the over speed zigzag driving and unnecessary track changing. I think mostly these put the violators as well as the others in danger.
Baiju
Dubai,UAE

Serious action must be taken against those drivers who force others to drive fast. Flashing lights, dippers from the back should be stopped. It is always annoying for the person who wants to remain under speed limit and, sometime cause major accident.
Khan
Dubai,UAE

I am not sure if over speeding is the issue. I am a woman who can drive fast if I want to, to avoid being late at my work, especially as I am travelling from Ajman to Shaikh Zayed Road everyday. Still I can say that there are some drivers who are over speeding and yet don't even know how to use indicator, and are happy to irritate other driver by honking their horns and flashing their bright lights and driving like they are trying to stitch the roads, which are for me are the one to be fined and arrested.
Marj
Ajman,UAE

For anyone thinking this won't work, remember that Dubai has people coming from every street of the globe with different styles of driving. This is not something easy to control. Dubai's solution of tackling irresponsible drivers is fining them with black points, license suspension or the car can be taken away, regardless of who you are. If this worked for Jumeirah, why can't it work for other roads?
Ana
Mirdif,UAE

Increasing the number of speed cameras may help rein in speeding motorists but it also has its negative effects. And I'm afraid it will affect responsible motorists more. I stick to posted speed limits even in areas where there are no cameras but I tend to check my speedometer more often than I need to leaving lesser time concentrating on the road ahead.
Victor
Dubai,UAE

Jumeirah Beach Rd is a good example how driving can be made more sensible. It would be great to move the cameras frequently, so people won't learn to slow down just for them. Immediate punishment is important in order to teach people when they make mistakes. Thank you RTA for your great efforts!
Kaisa
Dubai,UAE

Fear of getting caught by the many radars on Dubai roads is causing people to be driving much lower than the posted speed limit which is equally as bad as driving over the speed limit. It is frustrating to see drivers going at 60 or 80km/h when the speed limit is 100 or 120km/h on Shaikh Zayed Road. I do not understand why it is so hard for the police to patrol the streets, pull people over on the spot and give tickets for reckless driving, weaving from lane to lane, driving way under or way over the speed limit. All we see is more and more cameras installed instead of more police cars its very frustrating. A camera cannot catch a reckless driver weaving from lane to lane using the highway as his personal race track that's the police officers' job.
C. El-Refaei
Dubai,UAE

The arrangement is really nice to curb the speedsters. But police should make some circuits for motorists who want to test their vehicles performance. Do you expect a person who spends millions on his sports car and drive at the speed of snail. Some alternative should be made as these people have spend fortunes for their supercharged cars and its a big industry over here.
Abbas
Abu Dhabi,UAE

In my own opinion none of these measures will really deter unruly motorists from speeding, but this does not mean that authorities should not be taking such measures. At the same tome one will always find disciplined and undisciplined drivers on the roads. The key to the safe roads is disciplined driving and respect for the fellow road users.
Suresh
Abu Dhabi,UAE

Speed is well controlled nowadays at main roads, but not controlled yet in residential areas like Mankhool where violators are still breaching the limit and causing accidents!
Nadeem
Dubai,UAE

Very nice idea. Please try to provide a speed limit for each and every road for the motorists.
Donal
Dubai,UAE

In most of the cases when I drive at the specified speed limit, a driver with full dark tinted car comes from behind and starts flashing lights, honking and nearly hitting my car from behind. So in order to let him go I have to increase speed and change lanes. This happens even in areas where there are traffic cameras but there is no action from the Traffic dept. on these issues.
S Mathew
Dubai,UAE

Yes, I think increasing radars will deter motorists from speeding. My personal opinion is that they will learn from their experiences. So it is better to be fined on the spot.
Omana
Abu Dhabi,UAE

It is also important to have lane discipline.
Zuffer
Dubai,UAE

Thanks for this rule, but it is only in Dubai. What will we do in Sharjah and Ajman?
Johnson
Sharjah,UAE

This is a very good idea. People in the UAE travel far too fast for the traffic and sometimes at stupidly criminal speeds. Almost everyone ignores the laws of the country that relate to driving. They do not stop at stop signs, arrogantly push their way around the road without indicators, fail to give way when they should, and drive stupidly fast almost everywhere. I trust this new initiative will slow people down and make them more aware of their moral and legal responsibilities to themselves and others. Can we have this in Abu Dhabi too please?
Peter
Abu Dhabi,UAE

Best way to curb the reckless drivers.
shameem
Manama,Bahrain

Apart from all these measures we should give school students information regarding safe driving, road signals and punishments for violation etc. At least when its time for them to drive they will remember them.
Shihab
Abu Dhabi,UAE

Every initiative is taken to get a positive response, strict initiative should be taken if the response does not seems to be positive. The facts and figures of accidents, over speeding violations has forced the government to put strict regulations which is really helpful for everyone. The adoption of strict rules and regulations will definitely help to achieve some positive response. World is going crazy day by day and sometimes the craziness lead to unnecessary happening, just to stop this regulations are being implemented.
Adnan
Dubai,UAE

After all the government is spending so much money by installing radars, cameras, intelligent traffic systems, severe fines, etc. It is all for our safety, our family's safety, and of course for public safety. Well done!
K.P.Chandran
Dubai,UAE

Very good move by RTA. Now at least the speeding motorists will have a fear that they will be caught. Arrogant drivers also to be punished. This rule should be implemented for bus drivers driving in the speed lane.
Vetri
Dubai,UAE

It is definitely a good step taken by the Dubai police. This would help in minimizing accidents. But, what they need to understand is over speeding is not an issue. The root cause for all the problems is the traffic in the UAE. They need to take necessary steps in reducing the traffic in the jam-packed areas rather than setting fines.
Rumi
Sharjah,UAE

The behaviour on the road is a reflection of one's culture and obedience to the prevailing laws. No cameras, radars or any amount of fine can change the character of a person. However, the actions taken by the Dubai police to curb traffic violations are really praiseworthy. Hope the number of road accidents reduce drastically over the coming months.
Unnikrishnan K
Dubai,UAE

Many are rich enough to pay the fines. So fining will not work but speed breakers like humps will work better.
Felix
Dubai,UAE

Yes Yes Yes I agree 100 per cent with all three suggestions!
Rajesh
Sharjah,UAE

I don't think that increasing radars will help, I think when you reduce the speed limit in a certain streets this will increase the congestion and traffic, on the other hand I think those drivers who cause accident are not good drivers and they don't deserve to have licenses. In Germany they are speeding and still they are safe drivers, I think the police should reconsider there rules, especially that the traffic is increasing and by their new rules they are not helping at all.
Majed
Sharjah,UAE

I believe with such good roads and latest vehicles, it will be very boring for the drivers to drive at these set speed limits, and that is why all these accidents are happening. But if you increase all the speed limits +20kmph, then everybody will set themselves to a better speed. By implementing more restrictions you will not be able to stop the over speeding.
Nasrolah
Dubai,UAE

It's important to save the lives of people. But is speeding the only reason for the deaths? If they believe so, then let all the cars in UAE have an engine not larger than 1000 cc.
Ahmad
Abu Dhabi,UAE

I think it's more important to educate people about driving and speed than take all these surveillance-type methods to have fear hold the reckless drivers.
Sam
New York,USA

I think this is an excellent way to curb accident rate.
Husaini
Dubai,UAE

No! I don't think so. Because the moment drivers cross the camera, again they increases the speed. So its of no use..
Irfan
Sharjah,UAE

In addition to radars and speed cameras, stricter laws would be needed to stop dangerous driving in the UAE.
Mehnam
Dubai,UAE

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