RTA launches Phase II of Traffic Points Awareness Campaign

This follows the success of the first campaign launched by the RTA in coordination with the General HQ of Dubai Police last July to educate the public on Black Points system which was enforced in March 2008 under the slogan "For Your Safety and Safety of Others".

Maitha bin Adai, CEO of RTA Traffic and Roads Agency, said that the first campaign met considerable success in achieving its objectives in full as reflected in the huge public response, the extensive media and promotional multi-lingual coverage in Arab and foreign newspapers, radios and tv channels, as well as the wide publicity on roads, malls, petrol stations and others.

Bin Adai said:

"Building on that success, RTA, in association with Dubai Police, embarked on Phase II of the campaign which focuses on educating the public on traffic behaviors, and highlighting the global practices in specifying the design speed and speed limits on roads. The campaign will also shed light on establishing an enforcement mechanism of speed offences with a view to improving road traffic safety and raising the awareness level of motorists and road users in a bid to minimize the number of accidents and resulting casualties."

bin Adai added, "The campaign consists of two phases. Phase I, which lasted for three weeks, was meant to announce the start of implementing Traffic Points system and sounded an information notice or a reminder to the public. Phase II, which will be running for six months, will focus on educating the public on traffic behaviors that warrant implementation of Black Points system. Emphasis will be made on common and key offences and the corresponding penalties will be highlighted. The main objective of Traffic Points system is to safeguard community safety through improving safety levels of roads as well as land and marine mass transit system. A number of objectives are linked to this goal, such as minimizing the number of road accidents and resulting fatalities, and orienting the behaviors of road users."

"In accordance with the Black Points system, the accumulative limit is 24 points within a year's time, and the driving license will be forfeited if the motorist reaches that level. Black points are assessed in accordance with the gravity of the offense and will be removed upon the lapse of one year if the accumulated level was not reached, but the applicable fine will remain in place. The maximum amount of fine is 3,000 dirham and the minimum level is 100 dirham, however there are other fines left to the discretion of the Court. Renewal of vehicle registration and driving licenses is geared to the settlement of all fines and ensuring that traffic points have not reached the maximum level. The owner of the vehicle will be informed of any offense made in absentia through an SMS and will be given one month to report and adjust the entries in case he or she was not the driver who committed the offense," she added.

"Hopefully the campaign will give wide publicity to the system and educate road users to abide by traffic rules and regulations. This will reduce the rate of immoderate accidents and accordingly minimize resulting injuries and losses; a matter which contribute to enhancing the vision of the RTA in providing safe and smooth transport for all," bin Adai concluded.

Lt. Colonel Saif Muhair Al Mazrooiee, Acting Director of General Traffic Dep't at Dubai Police, hailed the success made in the first phase of the campaign. He said that the awareness and cooperation of motorists and road users had effectively contributed to the success made by Traffic Points System, and contributed to the huge drop in most traffic offenses; a matter which reflects the success of the campaign in controlling traffic accidents and violations.

"Motorists are requested to continue cooperation for their own safety and safety of other road users. In case accumulative traffic points of the driver reach the maximum level for the first time, the driving license will be confiscated and suspended for three months, and in the second occurrence the driving license will be confiscated and suspended for six months. In the third occurrence the driving license will be confiscated for one year and will not be returned to the driver unless he or she passes a training course in an accredited driving institute,"

added Al Mazrooie.

It is worth-mentioning that according to Article 8 of the law, these provisions apply to all motorists holding driving licenses issued from the UAE whenever an offence is committed in the UAE. With the exception of Traffic Points system, this law also applies to all persons permitted to drive vehicles in the UAE vide a foreign or international license. Periods referred to in this decision are calculated in the Gregorian calendar, and previous decisions are rescinded to the extent of contradicting with this decision; which had been put into effect as of 1 March 2008.