A sheikh, citizen or expat are all equal before the law, Major General Mohammed Saif al-Zafeen, Director of Dubai’s Traffic Police Department told Al Arabiya.
Zafeen rejected talks that a “sheikh” can be exempted from paying traffic fines, adding that UAE’s Vice President, Prime Minister and Dubai Ruler, Mohammed bin Rashed, has gave clear instructions that all drivers are equal before the law and traffic fines are applied to everyone regardless.
The major general went on expanding the list, including diplomats and tourists, saying they are also required to pay their fines.
There are agreements between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and other countries to facilitate obtaining fines from tourists once they leave the UAE, he said, adding that the country’s General Directorate of Traffic Coordination in the Ministry of the Interior is in charge of this task.
There is also coordination between government sides to stop the needed applications of people if they did not pay their fines.
“Wasta,” the Arabic word for one person’s abusing his or her “connections” will not work for people eying to cancel their fines, as it doesn’t exist, he said.
Zafeen said cancelation of fines only comes if there is a “real reason,” such as wrong data entry, but if the driver feels violated or misjudged by the traffic police officer, there is a section in the general directorate for traffic that receives complaints.
The complaints section is right under the General Manager’s office, whose task is to look into the complaints, he said.
“If a policeman has misapprehended a driver and fines him or her without a reason, or the police gave the driver a tougher finer than he or she actually deserves, then the driver’s case will be relooked and investigation will ensue.
“The police and the driver, both will be given the chance to be listened to, and if the driver was right, the fine will be changed or canceled,” he said.
Meanwhile, the major general said people that cover or tamper with their car plates, can still be caught. He said the radar can catch other data of the car.
Taping and coding are one of the means to make car plates hard to see. Some other people break some part of the plate, or put screws to change numbers.
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