DUBAI, 28 June 2007 — Dubai Police are cracking down on motorists who do not wear seat belts. More than 4,000 motorists have been fined during the past week as part of a campaign to catch such violators. Violators are fined 100 dirhams and have three black points added to their driving licenses. Dubai has a black points system that revokes a driving license of a motorist if he or she acquires 24 black points in one year.
Brig. Muhammad Saif Al-Zafeen, director of Dubai Police’s Traffic Department, said that traffic patrol vehicles are stationed all over the Emirate fining errant motorists.
“We are pulling aside motorists and fining them. Of course we tell them that it is for their own good because we do not want them to fly out of their windscreens in case they get involved in an accident,” he said.
He pointed out that the police are enforcing the practice of wearing the belt because many motorists do not abide by the rule. “Wearing a seat belt in a vehicle is for motorist’s own good,” he said. “Seat belts save lives and wearing your seat belt is the single-most effective way to reduce the chance of injury or death in motor vehicle collisions.”
Al-Zafeen added that using a seat belt or properly installed child restraint reduces the risk of death in a motor vehicle collision by 75 percent and it will reduce the chance of injury by 55 percent. “Even though motorists know that wearing a seat belt is for their own good they still insist on not doing so,” he said.
