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Capital Police to Stopand Fine Tailgaters

ABU DHABI - Motorists beware: Beginning today, unmarked police vehicles will patrol the capital’s arterial roads, including highways connecting Abu Dhabi to Dubai and to Al Ain, and all those found tailgating, driving dangerously or flashing their headlights will be immediately pulled over and given fines, besides having black points registered on their driving licenses.

The anti-tailgating drive is part of the Abu Dhabi Police’s year-long campaign to make the roads safer. “Tailgating and intimidating other drivers by flashing headlights is both dangerous and illegal (and) it is one of the (major) causes of road accidents,” said Major Ahmed Niyadi from Abu Dhabi Police.

“We will be using unmarked patrol cars to catch those who break the law and who threaten the lives of other road users,” he added, but didn’t disclose the number of patrol cars to be deployed or the areas under surveillance.

These unmarked police patrol cars — varying from luxurious and mid-to-small range vehicles and pick-ups – will be manned by two officers in civilian clothes. Tailgaters will be immediately pulled over and fined. The officers will also lookout for those violating other traffic laws such as overspeeding, overtaking on the hard shoulder, or driving way below the minimum speed limit.

Those who do not maintain the recommended safe distance of 10 metres between vehicles will be fined Dh400 and given four black points on their driving license; overtaking on the hard shoulder will cost Dh600 and six black points; illegal overtaking from the right will attract a Dh200 fine and three black points; overspeeding fine would Dh400 and four black points; while those driving very slowly on a highway will be fined Dh200.

The Abu Dhabi Police invited select media personnel for a demonstration of tailgating and road intimidation at Khaleej Al Arabi road. Two cars were selected for the purpose — a four-wheel drive was assigned as the tailgater while the driver of a saloon car was the one being harassed.

Both cars were driven by police officers who skillfully showed how motorists intimidate other road users by driving at a very close distance and flashing their headlights.

In Abu Dhabi, over-speeding accounted for about 70 per cent of all traffic violations last year. According to the Traffic and Patrols Directorate of Abu Dhabi Police, out of the 2,225,647 traffic violations recorded in 2009, 1,629,365 involved speeding. It was also one of the major causes of road accidents resulting in 33 fatalities and 22 critical injuries.

olivia@khaleejtimes.com

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