Make fines a better form of deterrence

Addressing road safety issues will require a tougher approach on everyone using the road

Traffic build up on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

The plan put forward by the Federal Traffic Council to make it mandatory for expatriates to pay their traffic fines before they leave the country is sound, but seems to put more focus on fine payment instead of tackling the problem of unsafe driving.

As The National reported yesterday, the proposal was put forward to tackle the incidence of expatriates with unpaid fines not returning from foreign trips.

At the moment, may motorists are only aware that they have speeding and other fines when they renew their vehicle registration each year. Road-safety experts say more regular reminders to pay fines will result in better driving habits.

If this is the case, then it would make sense to issue more regular reminders about the obligation to pay fines – and not just to those drivers who are leaving the country.

The overall standard of driving will not improve unless punitive measures are more swiftly and broadly applied. To this end, Abu Dhabi emirate’s decision to remove the 50 per cent discount on the cost of traffic fines was a good move. The next step could be to make it mandatory for all those who violate road safety rules to pay immediately after – or within a few days of – the offence.

According to Dr Britta Lang, a psychologist at British consultancy Transport Research Laboratory UAE, this would help drivers better see the link between their bad driving habits and their consequences. The theory is that having to make an immediate effort to pay the fine will make even those who can afford the penalty to think twice before committing traffic offences. Confusion over speed limits ought to be addressed in any review of the system. The buffer that allows drivers to exceed the posted limit by up to 20 kph creates confusion for many people, especially newcomers and tourists who may be confused as to why other drivers are trying to overtake when they are driving at the speed limit.

The way to solve this would be to remove the excessively large buffer and to have clear signage stating the upper speed limit. There should also be renewed efforts to tackle other causes of accidents, such as sudden swerving, failure to observe a safe distance between cars, poor lane discipline and red-light jumping, which are not always detected by speed cameras. None of this can be done without the visible presence of traffic police on our roads.