This is so dangerous here in the UAE!

Dubai Police fine 490 jaywalkers in more than one week

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/02/17/10286903.html

02/17/2009 06:33 PM | Staff Report

Dubai: Around 490 jaywalkers were fined since the launch of the pedestrian safety awareness campaign last week after detecting a 13 per cent rise in accidents involving pedestrians.

According to Brigadier Mohammad Saif Al Zaffin, Director of the Dubai Police Traffic Department, statistics revealed that most pedestrian violations were found (302) on Oman-Hatta Road.

Al Murqabbat Road followed with around 164 fines issued to jaywalkers and Emirates Road with 24 fines.

A significantly increasing number of traffic rules violators are being trapped by the sophisticated technology that is in use by Dubai Police.

Jamal Al Banai, Director of Traffic Follow-up Department in the General Department of Traffic, said 2,464,310 traffic offences were recorded in Dubai last year, resulting in fines amounting to Dh570 million.

He said as a result of the presence of radars on Dubai’s roads, the number of traffic offences recorded in 2008 had increased by 150 per cent over the previous year.

Almost 60 per cent of the violations were related to speeding and reckless driving.

The Dubai Police Traffic Department Deputy Director, Major Saif Muhair Al Mazroui, said to ensure that traffic rules are not violated by motorists, new radars, electronic devices and mobile smart radars, which can detect all speed violations, have been put in place.

By the end of 2008, 513 speed cameras had been installed, including 15 mobile radars. The mobile radar guns, mounted on police patrols and civilian vehicles, can track vehicles as they approach and move away from the radar.

Khaleej Times had reported on February 7 that this particular technology had caught 600 motorists in three days as they sped past the camera. Only 20 vehicles were caught speeding as they approached the radars.(view article)

The radars could also track the fastest vehicle in the radar beam, either approaching or moving away.

Al Banai said 2,132 motorists were caught speeding at over 20 km an hour over the limit.

He said that in 2008, 1,700 vehicles, whose owners had accumulated 24 black points, were impounded. Also licences of 200 vehicle owners, who had accumulated 24 black points, were confiscated.

He said at present 8,000 impounded cars were parked at the Ghusais traffic yard…SOURCE

Tourism doesn’t seem to be a priority any more.  What happened UAE?

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) is considering a Federal National Council (FNC) proposal that visitors to the UAE will have to furnish a clean police record and a bank statement from their country of origin, senior immigration officials told Khaleej Times on Monday.

Ministry figures show that 80 per cent of pickpockets and thieves, nabbed in recent crimes, entered the country on tourist and business visas.

Brigadier Nasser Al Awadhi Al Minhali, Acting Director General of Naturalisation and Residency Department at the ministry, said the restrictions under consideration would be applicable for visit, business and tourist visas.

“General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Interior, has issued these directives calling for studying the proposal of the FNC, and take action on it as soon as possible, if the new restrictions prove practical and realistic,” he said.

“The Naturalisation and Residency departments in the country have arrested many criminals, the majority of whom had entered the country on visit, tourist and business visas. This has prompted the department to chalk out new steps, including the ones proposed by the FNC,” the minister said.

Major General (retired) Ali Majid Al Matroushi, a member of the FNC and the Chairman of the Internal and Defence Affairs ad-hoc committee in the House, told Khaleej Times the high statistics had been taken seriously and prompted the recommendations…SOURCE

DUBAI – More than 80 vehicles found abandoned at the Dubai International Airport recently may have been left by people fleeing the country, apparently because they couldn’t repay loans after losing their jobs, according to police officials.

The Director of the General Department of Airport Security, Mohammed bin Thani, said 60 cars were seized recently.

Another 22 were seized by Dubai Police when they were found abandoned in a prohibited area in the airport, according to Colonel Saif Mohair Al Mazroui, Deputy Director of Traffic Department.

Col Saif said police noted the increase in the number of abandoned cars in the airport after the recent lay-offs by companies due to the economic downturn. “Police found that owners of some of the cars had dumped them in the airport parking lots after they failed to pay the loan instalments, and travelled to their countries,” he said.

However, Bin Thani said the evidence that the cars had been abandoned by loan defaulters was still not conclusive. He said the airport authorities had contacted banks and financial institutions to check whether the seized cars were purchased on loans…SOURCE

Now if they just give idiot drivers some taser and jail time!

Police to install radars every two kilometres

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/12/18/10268146.html

12/17/2008 11:27 PM | Staff Report

Dubai: Police will soon install radars every two kilometres on the roads to deter speeding and reckless motorists, a senior police official said.

Lieutenant Colonel Saif Muhair Al Mazroui, Acting Director of Dubai Police’s Traffic Department, said the traffic will work to install radars every two kilometres in addition to mobile radars to deter speeding and reckless motorists and protect road users.

He said the department has installed 90 new digital radars on several internal roads and highways in Dubai to reduce the number of fatal accidents resulting from speeding and reckless driving.

He said the traffic department had installed the new radars’ beams on different roads such as, 30 radars on Shaikh Zayed Road, 22 radars on Dubai-Al Ain Road, 17 radars on Dubai-Hatta Road, 10 radars on Emirates Road, six radars on Al Khail Road and five radars on Business Bay Bridge.

People will now be able to apply for new visas or renew them in any emirate irrespective of where they stay or work as the naturalisation and residency departments (NRDs) in the country have been electronically linked.

Brigadier Nasir Al Awadi Al Menhaly, Acting Director-General of the Naturalisation and Residency Department at the Ministry of Interior, told Khaleej Times on Sunday that all NRDs in the UAE are capable of issuing and renewing visas, regardless of the emirate where the existing residence visa was issued from.

The ministry has completed linking of all NRDs electronically to provide this new service.

“We are in one country, and there is an electronic link between all NRDs,” he said. Under the earlier system, for instance, a person working in Abu Dhabi but has a residence visa from Dubai or other emirates had to visit the NRD in that emirate to renew his/her visa.

This was a sheer waste of time and effort. “Consequently, Lieutenant-General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Interior, gave instructions to ease the hardship of expatriates by allowing them to get visas or renew visas from the NRD in any emirate regardless of the emirate where the residence visa was issued originally. This is what we are implementing right now.” Brigadier Al Menhaly clarified that many expatriates are not aware of this new service, and still take the trouble of travelling to other emirates to complete their visa-related procedures. “We now tell them to save the effort and submit your applications to any department in the country to be processed immediately,” he said.

Meanwhile, denizens of emirates have lauded the ministry’s step, calling it a real timesaver…SOURCE