Dubai Nearly 80 per cent of driving licences revoked by court judgements during this year’s first quarter belonged to defendants involved in drink-driving cases, according to Dubai’s top traffic prosecutor.
In the first three months of this year, the Dubai Traffic Misdemeanour Court revoked 391 driving licences, out of which 311 belonged to defendants who were caught driving under the influence of liquor, said Senior Chief Traffic Prosecutor Salah Bu Farousha, Head of Dubai Traffic Public Prosecution (TPP), on Tuesday.
“Upon the request of TPP to mete out stern punishments and revoke driving licences of traffic offenders, the traffic court revoked 391 driving licences between January 1 and March 31. During last year’s [2012] first quarter, the court revoked 321 driving licences, out of which 284 belonged to drivers involved in drink-driving cases,” Bu Farousha said.
He said the court issued varying jail terms and fines against traffic offenders, who hailed from different nationalities.
According to the breakdown of the revoked licences, Bu Farousha revealed that 24 defendants had their licences revoked for being involved in fatal accidents.
“Out of those 24 defendants, eight had their licences revoked for one year while the remaining had their licences revoked for between three and six months. The 311 defendants involved in drink-driving cases, had their licences revoked for three months. Eight defendants had their licences revoked for driving under the influence of drugs or mind-altering substances,” said TPP’s head.
Some 48 defendants had their licences revoked for involvement in different traffic cases.
“Upon the directives of Dubai’s Attorney-General Essam Al Humaidan, traffic prosecutors constantly request the traffic court to revoke driving licences of defendants involved in dangerous traffic cases.
Motorists involved in traffic cases and who have their driving licences revoked, cannot drive during the revocation period. Suspects who do so would be violating the traffic law and could face three months in jail and fined Dh5,000,” stressed Bu Farousha.
Between January 1 and March 31, 2012, according to TPP’s head, the driving licences of 321 defendants were revoked for different periods compared to 184 driving licences during same period of 2011.
“Al Humaidan has strictly directed us to be very strict and uncompromising with errant and dangerous drivers. We always seek the implementation of the toughest punishments applicable against such drivers,” Bu Farousha added.
