DUBAI // A female driver has accumulated fines worth Dh200,000 for 257 traffic offences, the majority of them speeding.
The woman, from Bangladesh, tops a list of 17 motorists who between them have accumulated more than Dh2 million worth of fines. Most of the drivers - 14 - are men, and a similar number are Emirati.
However, at second place on Dubai Traffic Police's list of shame is a female driver from Syria who accumulated Dh187,000 worth of fines for 288 offences. Third is a male driver from Egypt with Dh169,420 in fines from 236 offences.
Police confiscate the vehicles of those who have accumulated more than Dh40,000 worth of fines since May as such drivers are thought to be at increased risk of causing an accident. Under recently-introduced rules, the licence plate details of drivers above that threshold are circulated among police patrols and vehicles confiscated on-sight. The cars are not released until the outstanding fines are paid.
The release of the list comes shortly after police discovered two vehicles taking part in a late night race inside the Airport Tunnel on Saturday.
Brigadier Khalil Al Mansouri, head of the criminal investigations department, said an undercover patrol was able to track one of the vehicles - a 4X4 Nissan Patrol - and fine its driver, a 22-year-old Emirati, as well as impound the vehicle.
He said when officers checked their records they noticed the vehicle had just hours previously been released from the police's compound, where it was interred following a previous bout of reckless driving.
The incident brought the number of vehicles confiscated due to reckless driving to 154 in the past seven months.
wissa@thenational.ae
