And also may have
their vehicles impounded, following a crackdown by the Abu Dhabi Traffic
Police on the violators.
On Sunday, the
traffic police started random checks on vehicles plying the emirate’s roads
and pulled over several cars without visible registration stickers on their
number plates.
The checks were
put into effect immediately after the police caught a total of 10,121 vehicles
with expired registration for the first quarter of 2010.
“Most of the
accidents on the roads are caused by tire blowout and mechanical faults...
and, the only time you can get them checked are when you register your car...
This is part of our campaign to ensure that vehicles on the roads are safe,”
Colonel Husain Ahmed Al Harthi, director of the Traffic and Patrols
Directorate at the Abu Dhabi Police told Khaleej Times.
The crackdown,
which was observed by select media personnel on Sunday, will form a part of
the regular patrolling by the traffic police. From now on, motorists in the
capital will be stopped by police at random to check for their car
registration. “We do a random check and every time you’re stopped, you have to
expect to have your registration checked,” Col Al Harti explained.
Those found to be
driving with expired registration will be fined Dh400 on the spot and will be
given a month to sort out the issue. After the grace period, if the vehicle
still remained unregistered, it will be impounded by the police and released
only after the owner paid his or her fines and renewed the car’s registration.
With the use of
the Tetra handset device, the police will know right away if the car’s
registration has expired, by keying in the vehicle registration number. The
device, which is linked into a central database connecting all the emirates,
except Dubai, shows all details of the vehicle including its registration date
and its expiry, car model, colour, and the name of the owner in a matter of
seconds. By keying in the driver’s licence number, the police will also be
alerted of any unpaid fines for traffic violations.
Col Al Harthi
stressed the importance of renewing one’s car registration and having it
inspected for its road-worthiness and urged all residents to abide with this
traffic regulation. Many of those who failed to renew their registration are
either trying to avoid paying hefty fines or they have problems with their
vehicles or simply because they just can’t be bothered to do so, Col Al Harthi
said.