More fines likely for risky traffic violations: Top police official

A top police official has said that a proposal to increase fines and black points of certain violations is being discussed.

Major-General Mohammed Saif Al Zafin, Director of General Department of Traffic of the Dubai Police, said that amendments to the Federal Traffic Law would be discussed in the upcoming meetings.

He was speaking during a press conference held at the Dubai Police Officers Club on Sunday to launch a traffic awareness campaign titled ‘sudden swerve’. Al Zafin said that the fine for sudden swerve is Dh200 and drivers are issued four black points. “Such kinds of fines should be doubled to force drivers to stop driving recklessly and abide by laws to avoid fines.”

He added that 641 sudden swerve accidents occurred in 2013, against the 408 reported in 2012. He said sudden swerve violations topped the list of fatal accidents and caused 41 deaths out of the total 161 deaths that took place this year, representing 25 per cent of the total deaths in accidents. He said the police recorded 635 traffic cases involving 2,561 persons.

He said increasing fines and penalties for some “risky violations” will reduce the rate of accidents.

He said that the campaign aims to educate people about the dangerous impact of changing lanes suddenly. “People may need to change lanes or overtake another vehicle, but they should be more careful and avoid it when there is a parked vehicle or a vehicle ahead which slows down suddenly due to some reason,” he explained.

He asked drivers to use signals before changing a lane.

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