Passenger seat belts - New traffic law will come into effect from July in U.AE

Drivers will be fined Dh400 for each passenger who is found without a seatbelt inside the vehicle, a senior official told Gulf News on Saturday.

General Mohammad Saif Al Zafein, head of the UAE Federal Traffic Council, said that even if the if the driver is wearing his seatbelt, he can be fined if other passengers on the back seats are not wearing seatbelts.

“The fine is Dh400 for each passenger not wearing a seatbelt, so if the driver is wearing a seatbelt and other three passengers are not wearing it, then he needs to pay Dh1,200 in total for the three passengers, with four traffic points. Drivers are responsible for ensuring that passengers are using the seatbelt,” General Al Zafein said.

The new regulations, covering a comprehensive range of traffic discipline issues and violations, will be implemented on the first of July, according to General Al Zafein.

Officially signed by Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, the new regulations cover multiple violations, the penalties for which include heavy fines, black points, and impounding of vehicles.

Gen Al Zafein said that the new rules will restrict short people and children below 10 years of age from sitting in the front passenger seat given that the seatbelt can choke the person.

“Children under 10 and every person who his less than 145 cm in height will be banned from sitting on the passenger front seat. Officers can fine the driver Dh400. If the person is taller than 145 cm, then he needs to show any document showing his height or he can complain against the fine with the traffic department,” he said.

He added that appropriate child car seats must be used for all children under the age of four. Lack of child safety seats for children up to four years of age will invite a Dh400 fine and four black points.

Official statistics show that 725 people died in traffic accidents in the UAE last year and the new traffic law will help to reduce the number of death on the roads, Gen. Al Zafein said. “We want to reach a figure of 3 deaths for every 100,000 people in the UAE. This law will help us in reaching our target for safer and better roads,” he added.

UAE Federal Traffic Council seeks ban on Passenger Minibuses

UAE Federal Traffic Council is seeking a ban on passengers in minibuses by January 2018, a top official said on Wednesday.

Major General Mohammad Saif Al Zafein, Assistant Chief for Operations Affairs at Dubai Police, and Director of Federal Traffic Council said that the council issued a recommendation to stop renewing the registration of minibuses for passenger transportation and only allow them to transport goods.

“We want to ban minibuses from transporting passengers. We have sent a recommendation to Ministry of Interior to ban the minibuses and hopefully, the suggestion will be active law by January 2018,” General Al Zafein said.

He said minibuses will be registered only if they are used for other purposes, such as transporting goods.

He said that Lt Gen Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, had asked the council to cooperate with the Ministry of Health to conduct a study on the minibuses, especially the psychological side of the drivers. “Our suggestion to ban the minibuses from transporting passengers came as a result of the study which recommended to use it only for transporting goods,” Major General Al Zafein said.

Ten people were killed and 152 injured in 79 traffic accidents caused by minibuses last year. Dubai Police said the death toll reached 198 in 2016.

“The number of deaths on roads is increasing and minibuses are not a transportation vehicle. We see accidents due to over-speeding and packing such vehicles with people without safety measures taken into consideration.”

He continued: “Sometimes it’s the speed, the dangerous swerving or simply the driver being exhausted and half asleep at the wheel with people packed away in these killing machines on wheels. This cannot go on.”

“Minibuses, which are normally designed to carry 14 people are sometimes packed with 16 to 18 people, making it unsafe due to overcrowding and unstable when the driver is speeding. In many cases, the vehicles are overcrowded and unfit to transport people safely.”

He said that if there is a situation, there are no emergency exits, unlike regular buses, to facilitate escape.

In a major incident in July last year, a Toyota minibus carrying 20 people crashed into a stationary lorry on Emirates Road in Dubai, killing seven people and injuring 13.

Minibuses were banned from transporting schoolchildren in 2013.