To encourage lawfulness in cases of traffic regulations such as using seat belts or no use of mobile while driving, the Dubai Police will embark on Fixing ‘silent radars’ in residential areas. These radars are expected to capture over and above speeding offenders.
Not wearing a seatbelt risks the payment of Dh400 along with the accrual of four black points, while operating a hand-held phone while driving attracts a fine of Dh800 and four black points. There is no info on when the silent radars will be implemented, as the authorities have noted that the fines for improper behavior will be checked before being issued.
Salma Mohammed Rashed Almarri, head of the Traffic Awareness section, said: “From my experience, the fine taken by the Dubai Police through video also gets crosschecked by the officers, specifically in the behavioral violations such as holding the phone and wearing seat belts.”
More than just speeding
Hassan Ali Taleb Alhambra from the traffic technology department said that Dubai has different types of radars. It comes as a shock to many when they realize that many such cars not only record speeding, but they also capture activities such as illegal U-turns, and other violations.
In the conversation with the officer of the Dubai Police, the interlocutor identified several “modern aids to the management of traffic” on the roads of the Emirates. They pick instances of the use of mobile phones while driving, and violation of seat belts, among others.
The radars put in place on the roads of Dubai are capable of supervising six basic or principal lanes of a highway and two lanes aside. They can also read number plates and determine if a plate is somehow hidden or entirely covered.
Such hi-tech devices can identify a car that is speeding or committing some other offense even if the car is partially hidden behind another.
Officer Salma reiterated that in Dubai motorists are required to come to a standstill at pedestrian crossings. Case 2: They have to wait until the pedestrian has fully crossed the road to free up the lane further ahead. Otherwise, the violators will be subjected to a Dh500 fine.
Control center
Not only these smart radars, but Dubai’s roads are also under surveillance by large screens located in the Dubai Police Command and Control Centre.
As Major Mohammed Shahriyar Alblooshi, assistant director of the Command Control Centre, explained: ”From the Dubai Police Command Centre, we can see through cameras if there is any car on the road and if something is causing traffic, if any driver requires assistance we send the police patrol directly on the scene and can also oversee and evaluate the situation from the command center”.
Captain Majid Al Qassim, head of specialized operations, further added: “We can watch all the roads from here,” the screen displayed two RTA buses that had encroached into the road, and following the command center screen, the police patrol was observed approaching the area, waving at other motorists to change lanes and assisting the bus passengers to alight to another bus. “We have several assets across Dubai for instance ambulances and patrols that are always on standby in the event of an emergency,” he said.
Car riders affiliated to the Dubai Police Awareness Department are being encouraged to keep a safe distance from other vehicles and anyone caught will be fined Dh400. The general aim of these systems is to prevent people from causing accidents on the roads and not merely to fine them. It is more concerned with sustaining a proper and approved driving speed as opposed to detecting speed offenders.