90 fined for parking in special needs’ bays at Fujairah City Centre mall

New device called 'Makani', senses the presence of vehicles in the special car parking bays meant only for the disabled.

A device that clicks a picture of motorists parking illegally in spaces reserved for disabled drivers has monitored and registered as many as 90 violations in just a month at the Fujairah City Centre mall.

This confirmed the effectiveness and success of the device called “Makani”, which was invented by three Fujairah police officers. The trio had won the Minister of Interior Excellence Award for their invention.

The device senses the presence of vehicles in the special car parking bays meant only for the disabled. It then takes a snapshot of the vehicle and feeds the vehicle’s number plate information into its central computer system. The device then generates an audio-visual alert that is sent to the car owner who is then given a 20 second “Alert time” to remove his vehicle from the special needs car park slot. If the driver doesn’t leave during that time, he will be fined.

Major Dr Saeed Mohammed Al Hassani, acting head of media and public relations at the Fujairah Police, said: “Since the launch of the device in mid-May, 64 violations were recorded in the second half of May, while 26 offences were recorded in the first half of this month”.

The drop in the number of violations is a positive indication on the effectiveness of the device to prevent infringement of the areas reserved for disabled drivers. Under the traffic law such an offence can get you a fine of Dh1,000 fine and four black points. The device has been installed in areas designated for physically-impaired motorists in the Fujairah, as it has one of the biggest and crowded shopping malls in the emirate. The device is placed in 15 car parks set for disabled drivers in the centre.

Later a number of such devices will be installed on all car parks for special needs drivers in Fujairah.

salah@khaleejtimes.com