Earlier this year an excellent system was put in place by Dubai police to deter traffic offences. Vehicles were confiscated for a minimum of a week and up to three months, depending on the seriousness of the offence.
But there was what I always thought a strange part of the system. Apart from dangerous driving offences, the vehicles could get out of jail by payment of the derisory ransom of Dh100 a day.
Car impounded for a week? No problem. Pay Dh700 and you can have it back.
It's no surprise that the system was abused. According to police, 'the majority' of motorists who paid the fine and kept their vehicle then repeated the offence.
So now common sense prevails and the system has been abolished. Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, our Police Chief, said that confiscation of the vehicle was a stricter punishment and was more effective.
In future, if your car is confiscated it will stay confiscated for the full term.
Excellent news. We need effective policies to get the morons off the road.
By the way, I made the point in my 'smoking fines' postings (scroll down to find them) about the inconsistency between fines for smoking and for traffic offences. The Dh100 a day fine here emphasises the point.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
The obvious is not so obvious at times - what is not obvious is found out when one is the victim of an accident - and that is totally unbelievable. :-((
Post a Comment