450,000 motorists have traffic fines slashed in Dubai Police scheme

The Exemplary Driver campaign was set up to offer an incentive for safe driving

More than 450,000 drivers have benefitted from a police campaign rewarding safe driving with traffic fine discounts. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Hundreds of thousands of motorists had traffic fines slashed in the first three months of a Dubai Police safety drive.

The Exemplary Driver initiative was launched on February 7 to encourage motorists to ease their foot off the accelerator pedal and take extra care when behind the wheel.

The scheme offers drivers a 25 per cent discount on penalties accrued before the start of the campaign in February if they keep a clean record for three months.

Motorists who steer clear of trouble for six months will have fines cut in half, and there is a 75 per cent discount for completing nine months without violations.

A senior police officer said 457,000 drivers had received a 25 per cent discount on a total of about 1.2 million violations.

“There are many goals behind launching this scheme but the main one is to reduce the traffic fatality rate,” said major general Mohammed Saif Al Zafin, assistant chief of Dubai Police at a pres conference marking the first three months of the campaign.

Maj gen Al Zafin said the number of deaths on the emirate's roads fell from 29 to 20 during the first three months of the initiative, compared with the same period in 2018.

He said the number of accidents was down from 48,247 to 43,947 during the same period.

“This scheme is for the benefit of the public, it protects lives and helps lessen financial burdens from accumulating fines and also encourages people to drive safely,” said maj gen Al Zafin.

“We want to know what motorists think of the scheme, and we want them to know that by avoiding committing traffic offences, they stay safe and save cash.”