Dubai woman fined Dh10,000 for going red with fury at green light

Traffic signal assault results in suspended jail term and a fine.

DUBAI // A woman who assaulted a fellow motorist who paused momentarily after a traffic light turned green was today fined Dh10,000 and given a suspended one-month jail term.

The 24-year-old Emirati, who works with the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency department, started by honking the horn of her Lexus in a bid to hurry the driver of a blue Kia in front of her.

The Kia had failed to accelerate as quickly as she hoped from a junction in Al Quoz residential area on March 11 at about 1.30pm.

She then got out of her Lexus and approached the Kia, which was being driven by a 28-year-old Egyptian marketing manager.

The marketing manager, who was checking on her small daughter who had just spilt a cup of hot chocolate on herself, heard a knock on her window and looked up to see the Lexus driver. She rolled down her window.

"Are you blind?" the Lexus driver asked the marketing manager.

When the marketing manager asked her to speak politely the Lexus driver slapped her across the right cheek, leaving scratch marks across her face.

The marketing manager was also fined Dh2,000 for insulting the Lexus driver, but she was cleared of assaulting her.

The Lexus driver had claimed that, during the altercation, the marketing manager had opened the door of her Kia in a violent fashion, hurting her hand.

She also claimed that the Kia driver had followed her after the altercation challenging her to a fight, but said that pedestrians had intervened and stopped her from doing so.

"The [Kia] driver followed us to my uncle's house and started daring us to engage in a fight with her but we rejected her offer," said the 21-year-old sister of the Lexus driver, who was also in the car.